Like Real People Do
by PorcelainStorm
Summary: It's been 21 years since Natasha showed up at Clint's door with an infant in hand. After Clint is taken during the night by Hydra, Dana Barton finds out about her family's legacy, her own origins, and the true meaning of being a hero. ClintxNatasha(ish), NastahaxBruce(ish), TonyxPepper, AoU- Spoilers T-for language and some sensitive topics later on.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Hello! It has been a very long time since I've posted anything on this website, so I'm a little rusty on things. If you couldn't tell by the title this story is inspired by the Hozier song 'Like Real People Do'. That being said, I do not own the song, these characters, or anything Marvel claims right to. I do lay claim to some of the OCs in the story and just ask that you ask me if you'd like to use them. I really hope you enjoy this story!

**Edit**: I updated this chapter with some grammar/spelling mistakes that I'd caught. Enjoy!

(-)

_I had a thought, dear. However scary, about that night. The bugs and the dirt..._

(-)

The Alaskan woods were silent. Snow continued to fall on the already white landscape and not a footprint was to be seen from Dana Barton's tree stand.

"Dad," Dana pulled her walkie-talkie out murmured into the device. "I really don't think we're going to find anything today."

Silence was the only response she was given. She frowned in annoyance and sat down on her tree stand, took in the nature around her and scouted for any signs of life. There were a few rocks, and some more snow.

Dana wanted to go back home, curl up on the sofa in front of their fireplace and study her organic chemistry book. She had an exam once she got back to school and wasn't in the mood to be playing hunter in the forest.

_"Look alive kid,"_ a male voice stated from her pocket. Dana jumped into action, pulled her bow up and nocked an arrow. She scanned the landscape, seeing nothing, nothing but snow. "Six o'clock," her father noted slowly. She whirled around and loosed the arrow the moment she saw the elk. Her shot was echoed by the familiar whoosh of her father's arrow nearby, with both hitting their target.

The large creature went down in seconds.

Dana swung down from her tree stand and met her father on the forest floor. Clint Barton was just as agile as he'd been in his heyday, despite his age pushing his fifties. He landed softly on the snow and ushered Dana over. The girl swung her bow over her shoulder and hurried over.

"Do you remember how to clean an elk? It's been a while, hasn't it?" he questioned the 22-year-old. Dana pushed a strand of red hair out of her face and mocked offense.

"I've been away at school for four years and you think I've forgotten? That _hurts_," she rolled her eyes and helped her father flip the carcass. The pair got to work quickly quartering and cleaning the elk before it was loaded into a sled and pulled back to their cabin.

An uncomfortable silence fell between the pair. Clint dreaded those silences; Dana had become almost impossible to talk to over the last few years. He would have taken three tours in Budapest over trying to converse with his daughter.

"So what are you planning on doing after graduation?" Clint attempted to begin a conversation, but Dana was able avoid the question with ease, pretending to struggle with the elk carcass and giving a grunt of frustration. She gave enough silence to her father to justify a change in the conversation.

"Can you make some of that stew? I love that stew so much, with the big chunks of elk meat?" Dana replied, it was clear there were a number of traits she'd picked up from her mother whether she recognized it or not. She certainly did not like to talk about herself.

"I will, if you aren't slow with this," he grunted as they walked through the back door and pulled the elk in behind them. Snow covered the kitchen floor, a sight that was common in the Barton home during the winter months.

Dana grabbed her hunting knife from her hip and shrugged off her winter gear. She shook snow out of her red hair and got to work quietly carving up the elk.

(-)

Within a few hours Dana and Clint had managed to clean the elk and store away any extra meat in their cellar.

Dana sat at the dining room table, and studied a large text while her father stood at the stove. He stirred the stew occasionally and sent a glance in Dana's direction.

She seemed to be engrossed in a type of chemistry, something Clint had no experience or skill in. A frustrated sigh revealed she seemed to be struggling with a particular problem. He was sure it was something Natasha probably would have been able to help the girl with easily.

He looked forward at the stove, and frowned. Twenty-one years had passed since Natasha had appeared at his doorstep, infant in hand, with a desperate plea. Things had gotten out of control, Coulson and the remaining members of SHIELD were struggling to keep HYDRA under control and Natasha was next on HYDRA's list.

He had not seen the red-haired spy since that day, and he feared for their reunion.

"Dad…!?" Dana called Clint back to reality. The stew had caught fire and Dana had already jumped into action. She grabbed a nearby extinguisher and stopped the flames before any serious damage could be done. "Are you ok?" concern flickered in her grey eyes for an instant.

"Yeah, just tired," he grumbled, trying to salvage what he could from the black goop.

"Maybe you should go lay down? I can make some cereal or something," she suggested. She looked exhausted, more so than her worn father. He finally gave up trying to save the stew and eventually grumbled he would deal with the mess in the morning.

"You get some sleep too," he ordered.

"I will, I will," she replied and retook her seat at the table.

"Night, I love you," Clint called from the staircase.

"Night," Dana shouted in response, her voice clearly distracted.

Clint made his way to the upstairs bedroom and closed the door. Some days he missed when Dana was little and had nothing to do but pester him. They had spent their days in the woods, hunting and fishing. Clint certainly wasn't a father figure, but he definitely tried his best. He tried to keep Dana close. He wasn't going to lose the only connection he had to Nastasha.

Things started going down hill after Dana announced after high school she wanted to study outside of the state. They had a vicious fight and nothing had been the same. She started working and saving money and eventually paid for her to fly south and study in the US mainland. She barely visited unless he begged and the two of them would usually spend their nights in solitude.

Clint settled into bed and pulled open his side drawer to search for his sleeping pills. He hadn't had a restful night of sleep in years and a friend from town had offered to pick him something up for it. He wasn't entirely sure what they were, but they helped.

His attention was drawn to the metal box he stored in the drawer, his "emergencies only" box. Dana didn't know of its contents, but he taught her when she was little that she was to grab this box, her bow, and run as far away as possible if there was ever an emergency. Of course he framed it as a fire or break in to the young girl, but he knew the wider application of the word "emergency".

Popping a sleeping pill in his mouth, he turned his light off and stared at the ceiling.

They'd be coming any day now, that much Nat had managed to warn him. To comfort himself he loaded his pistol and kept it within reach. No wonder he needed drugs to sleep at night.

He made a promise to Natasha that he would protect their daughter and he'd be damned if he broke that word.

(-)


	2. Chapter 2

_Why were you digging? What did you bury? Before those hands pulled me from the earth? _

_(-) _

_Crunch_.

Clint Barton's eyes shot open at the subtle noise. Someone was outside. He held his breath and continued to listen. Dana might have gone for a walk outside, or it may have been a passing animal.

Silence.

The snow outside of the cabin fell so peacefully Clint began to doubt the noise he'd heard outside. Dana always joked he was a worrywart; perhaps he'd overreacted once again?

_Crunch_.

There it was, footfalls in the snow and more than one. Clint kept his hand on his gun under his blankets. If they thought they had the element of surprise, they had another thing coming. Clint reached for his drawer and grabbed the kit. It looked like it was finally going to get its use. He crept out of bed and started across the room.

He made sure he didn't cast a shadow as he moved. He could hear Dana breathing heavily in the kitchen, indicating she'd fallen asleep while studying. He allowed himself a small smile, the number of times he'd carried her to bed after she'd fallen asleep under a book…

_Click_.

A latch on the windowpane came loose. Clint looked from the living room to Dana sleeping peacefully in the dining room. He had less time than he thought. He darted down the staircase toward his daughter, gun drawn.

"Dana!" he gave a shout as two masked men slammed through the living room windows. Clint guessed they had given up on a slow and steady approach.

Dana jolted up at the noise and looked around in confusion, and jumped from her chair once she realized everyone in the room was armed. Clint stood in front of her protectively and slowly handed her the metal box from his bedside drawer.

Her grey eyes locked with his for a moment and she took the book-sized box. She knew what needed to happen next. He'd told her so many times before. She eyed her winter coat before the shooting began. Clint grabbed it and shoved her out of the room with one motion.

Shots rang out throughout the house, shattering lamps and dishes on the counter. Dana scrambled through debris toward the back door in the kitchen. She kept her hand clutched on the metal box and grabbed her coat off of the ground, thankful she had kept her boots on while she studied that night.

Clint held the men off the best he could. He needed enough time to get Dana out of the house and a safe distance away. He shot one man in the arm and kicked the gun out of the other's grasp. At least he would stand a fair chance if they fought hand to hand. They blocked him with ease.

Dana ran into the cold night, the snow biting her cheeks as she fumbled pulling her scarf out of her coat pocket. Her mind raced, her pulse quickened and the world felt like it was spinning. She wanted to vomit. She raced to the opposite end of the cabin to the storage shed where they kept extra bows and quivers for hunting.

Her dad's warnings about emergencies ran through her head. _Get the box, get protection and get away. I'll find you. _It was a prayer that she repeated to keep her sanity in the insane situation.

She needed something to protect herself against the Alaskan wilderness. Dana could shoot a bow, so that would have to do. Approaching the shed she noted that she was alone. Thankfully the men hadn't bothered to bring backup. She pulled the door open as quietly as she could and grabbed the first weapon she saw. A recurve bow she knew she was able to draw back.

Dana slung a quiver of arrows over her back and started toward the door when she heard shouts coming from her home. She peered though a crack in the door of the shed to see what was going on.

Her father was dragged out a nearby door, struggling against his captors. His hands were bond behind his back and he had blood trickling from his face. As he fought, one of the men gave him a kick in the stomach, to which Dana let out an unintentional scream. The men turned their attention to the shed, one of them starting toward her slowly, gun raised.

"Come out and play little girl," the man teased in a sing-song voice. She could hear her father begging in the background to leave her alone. She felt around in the darkness until she felt the tip of an arrow brush against her hand.

As the man swung the shed door open, Dana charged at him with a sharpened arrow. She dug it into his shoulder blade near a badge resembling a serpent and ducked under him. Dana ran as fast as her body would take her into the darkened forest. She couldn't look behind her, not at the broken body of her father. The man who'd raised her and cared for her, now laying bloody in the snow.

Dana ran until she couldn't breath. Her legs were numb and her cheeks burned from hot tears freezing as they fell. She collapsed on a nearby fallen tree and tried to collect herself. Her shaking hands would not still, and now that she wasn't moving her stomach rebelled against her.

A wave of nausea rolled over her and she leaned forward, vomiting the cereal she'd eaten earlier in the night. She clutched her stomach, and tried to make sense of what had happened. As her body shook, the metal box she'd set on the tree fell to the ground.

It's contents spilled out and Dana leapt up, making sure nothing was damaged in the snow. She grabbed three USBs, a small box of matches, a hunting knife, and a device with an "A" printed on the back surface. A letter was tucked at the bottom of the box that Dana pulled out and quickly read it.

_Dana-_

_There's a lot I haven't told you- about your mom and about me. If you're reading this I've either told you or you've found out the hard way. The homing device will call friends of mine who can help you no matter where you are. Do not worry about me. Whatever happens to me I will rest easy knowing you are safe._

_ -Dad _

"Well, that was helpful," Dana sighed to herself. Once the box was resealed, she looked around the forest around her. She had an advantage of knowing the woods significantly better than those who sought her and her family. So far it looked like she had no followers.

Once she had her bearings, she started in the direction toward a small cliff that she knew of nearby. When she was ten, she had found a small cave tucked under a large pile of boulders that overlooked a cliff edge.

Her father had been furious when she didn't respond because she'd disappeared into the cave. Dana remembered thinking it was so funny her dad thought she'd fallen.

_"C'mon daddy! I'm not that dumb!" _

She blinked the memory away and checked over her shoulder once more. Snow was falling faster than she could make footprints. She'd lucked out, they covered any trace of her presence.

As she walked she wrapped her scarf tighter around her head and dug in her pockets for any spare gloves. The only ones she was able to retrieve were thin ones that she used when she was shooting. They would have to do.

Dana decided that she wanted to be safe before signaling anyone for help. She wanted a central location she would be able to settle into, just in case her father's "friends" took a while to find her.

The cave appeared just after she climbed a hill. It was just as she remembered it but with significantly more snow covering it. Insulation, she tried to tell herself as she wiggled her toes to return feeling to them.

It took a little under twenty minutes for Dana to clear herself a shelter in the rocks. Once she cleared away the snow, she searched around for any dry branches or brush she could find. To her dismay, it wasn't a lot. Finally, however, she was able to relax for a moment. She started a small fire and set her belongings aside and pulled out the homing device.

(-)


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **I wanted to thank everyone for such a warm and kind response to the story! Hopefully you all enjoy the next chapter!

(-)

_I will not ask you where you came from. I will not ask, and neither should you. _

(-)

Dana toyed with the device for an eternity. Her hands weighing the object back and forth, as if tampering with it would provide her with some semblance of guidance. She simply couldn't muster the nerve to press it.

She had so many question, so many concerns. Was she entirely sure that she could trust whoever was on the other end of the device? A gust of wind shot through the cave unexpectedly and she jumped in surprise at the sudden onslaught of cold. Her tiny fire flickered in protest, but managed to stay lit.

In a moment of panic, Dana pressed down on the device as hard as she could with her cold hands. Her small fire would only last an hour or two, tops. There was no way was she going to make it through the next few hours without help, assuming who or whatever showed up would even offer to help.

The object did nothing. No lights, no beeps, no means of confirming help was on its way. At least she tried. If she died in this tiny cave, at least the officials will see she tried.

She tossed the object aside and held her hands near the fire. She couldn't risk going out of her shelter, not without a stronger weapon. She had nothing helpful; an archaic computer file, her bow and her hunting knife. Items that would very quickly prove futile if faced with those heavily armed men. Her bow would help from a distance, but she was sure she wouldn't have the opportunity to use it when it would count.

So she waited. Though Dana wasn't even sure what she was waiting for. Logic pointed that she was probably waiting for death; a frozen death of hypothermia and frostbite.

She should have stayed at school for winter break. Her professor had offered her a research project to work on in lieu of leaving for the three-week break between classes. Dana hated coming home recently. Her dad was always more distracted and more sheltered every time she saw him. It was painful to watch. Lord knew he tried to steer conversation with her, but it was dry and empty.

Neither had anything to contribute anymore. He was done raising her, something that seemed clear to both parties in recent months. Dana was focused on things aside from hunting and marksmanship. She wasn't interested in the woods surrounding their home; she was interested in the world. A world her father tried so desperately to hide her from. That's when it hit her.

That was all gone now. She couldn't go home, to the only family she ever knew. She couldn't go to school. She was on the run, from someone or something. Her father wouldn't be able to protect her any more; he wouldn't be able to _hide_ her.

With a shiver, she looked out at the night sky outside of her shelter and tried to forget the cold. She tried to imagine herself away from the snow and the wind, something to keep her mind off of the fact she was slowly losing feeling in her toes.

Huddled against the wall of the cave Dana wiped away a stray tear and grunted in annoyance. This was no time to show weakness.

(-)

"_Dad_," 25-year-old Christopher Howard Stark looked in annoyance up from his computer to a ping on a nearby monitor. "_Dad_, someone's paging you... It's probably Stev- Clint Barton?" He looked toward his father who was tinkering with something across the room. "Isn't he dead? I'm pretty sure you said he was dead."

Tony Stark stood from his desk and walked over to his son. He pulled up a map on the main monitor in their workshop and located the source of the page. A map of the United States appeared in seconds.

"First thing you need to learn about spies is that they never really die," Tony Stark confirmed the ping belonged to Clint Barton's homing device. "Either that, or someone got their hands on a 20 year old Avengers card. It could be anything really." Chris fixed his attention to the specific location of the device.

"It's coming from Alaska," Chris frowned in confusion. "Like, rural Alaska. It's coming from a mountain ridge." He looked up at his father who was staring intently at the blinking light on the monitor.

"I can't say I've befriended any bears recently," Tony commented lightly. "Get Rogers on his way over. I want the team ready to go in ten minutes."

"Let me go," Chris jumped up from the chair and set his computer aside. "C'mon! I prepped the new control module and I need a test run."

"No," Tony countered sharply. He reached across a desk and flipped a small switch. "Jarvis? We're suiting up."

"Isn't it a bit late for an outing, sir?" the machine replied. Tony snorted, crossing the room to examine his mechanical suits.

"Ha. Ha. Get me… yeah," Tony scanned through his options on the screen before he settled on one. "Let's get going." He pointed a finger at his son, and narrowed his gaze. "Call Rogers, then bed."

"Whatever," Chris grumbled. He had accepted that he had lost any chance of fighting his father on this subject. He typed a generic message for Rogers to return to the tower as quickly as he could and sent it the soldier's way. It had been forever since anyone had let him out of the tower. His mom had insisted that it had nothing to do with a certain incident in Paris, but Chris knew better. His dad hadn't exactly been the most understanding about what had happened.

A team consisting of him, Captain Rogers, and Dr. Banner had been investigating an international drug ring in the city of lights. Chris had been working on compiling and sending back intelligence that the group had collected throughout their investigation. He had been sitting in a Paris café, uploading his file and minding his business when duty called and he tried to help.

Yes, Chris had blown up a car. But I was just _one_. No big deal, he even offered to pay the owner back after things had settled down.

Some thugs had been robbing a nearby couple and he needed to stop them, but they'd moved too far up the road. So, he blew a car up.

The press had a field day with the information and his dad banned him from helping on missions for an indefinite amount of time. No one bothered to thank him for saving the couple. Not that Chris was bitter about it.

He also inadvertently exposed an Avenger's team in Paris with the incident. When they'd gone to storm the warehouse the next day, the supplier had jumped ship. They had left the two-month operation overseas with nothing to show for it.

"Captain Rogers is in the elevator sir," Jarvis' voice broke the light hum of computers in the room.

"Direct him to the hanger," Tony ordered the computer before leaving the room to suit up and respond to the page. "_Bed_."

And with that, Chris was left along with his thoughts.

(-)

Dana was chilled to her core. No amount of wilderness training could have prepared her for the Alaskan woods in the heart of December. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so cold. Her fire had extinguished hours previously.

Dana pulled her legs close to her chest and started to rock back and forth.

She needed to think warm thoughts. Sunlight had started to peak over the horizon, taunting her of warm that would never come. She knew that the days could be just as unforgiving as the nights.

She wanted to move, to hunt, to do something aside from sitting in the cave, but even when she was in high school, they'd taught students basic hypothermia survival techniques. Apparently that was a concern in her hometown.

She needed to stay put, to keep her core warm. That was the most important part of staying alive. But her head was beginning to swim.

Dana was exhausted. Her head felt heavy and she fought to keep her eyes open. She needed to stand. She couldn't allow herself to die like this. She struggled to gain a footing on the icy floor of the cave, and fell backward onto the ground. Lying on her back, Dana stared at the ceiling of the cave. She noticed she'd finally stopped shivering. She mentally prayed the cold was over.

Dana rolled her head to the side and looked at her belongings neatly stacked on the side of the cave. She'd put the USBs and her father's note in the lining of her jacket but left everything else in the metal box.

She tried to keep her head clear. She thought of her father, of what his supposed friends were like, and what she'd do once she and her father were reunited. He'd tease her for being a weakling.

_"No daughter of mine gets hypothermia!" _

Dana felt an overwhelming wave of sadness once she recalled her dad's broken body on the ground outside of their home. There was a good chance he was dead. Gone. Forever. She closed her eyes at this thought.

"…hey!" Dana barely stirred. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or dead. Either was equally possible at this point.

"I'm… fine…." She grumbled. "Five more minutes…."

"…need help… hypothermia…" a blonde haired man was moving her body to help her sit up.

Dana attempted to concentrate on what was being said, but her mind wasn't connecting the words to meanings. He kept trying to talk to her.

"…Barton…?"

"Dana…" she murmured. "Please… I'm fine… My dad… friends." She lifted a weak arm in the direction of her belongings. Her bow and quiver sat on top of the metal box.

Steve had an idea who the girl might be, but was careful with his questions just in case. He suddenly had a list of questions to ask, but he knew he wouldn't get any answers until she was cognizant. He cursed Tony's slow response to the emergency call and attempted to keep the girl conscious. She hadn't even shivered since he'd arrived.

He didn't have a lot of experience treating people exposed to prolonged cold, but he knew once they were unconscious, half the battle was lost. Dr. Banner had given him a run-through during one occasion where a villain froze half of New York, but aside from that, nothing. Thankfully he heard the nearing sound of a plane's engines.

"Hey, hey look at me," Steve made the girl's grey gaze lock onto his for an instant. "I'm going to help you up."

She grumbled a response and Steve lifted her from her sitting position with ease. After maneuvering out of the cave, he was able to flag down Tony in a small aircraft flying overhead.

"Who is this?" Tony questioned as Steve entered the craft and laid the girl down on a blanket.

"My guess? Clint's kid," Steve responded quickly as he bundled her tightly with additional blankets. "I need five more minutes, there were some things in the cave."

"You better hurry up we- wait what?" Steve was gone before Tony was able to press for more answers. The girl a soft groan and he knelt down next to her. It was clear she was suffering from some level of hypothermia.

He checked for any damp clothing and kept the aircraft as warm as possible. He pulled off her boots and frowned at her discolored toes. Warming them in warmed cloths he started working on her hands and head. She stirred slightly when he removed her hat.

"Hey," he muttered as the girl tried to get a sense of her surroundings and began to panic. "You're safe. You're safe."

"Please! Don't! Don't hurt him!" she shouted, too weak to follow-up the pleas with anything of a physical nature. Her eyes began to close as she murmured a final plea. "Please…"

Steve had returned with a bow and a bundle of arrows tucked under his arm. In his hand, he was sifting through a small mental container.

"Anything of use?" Tony questioned once the girl had calmed significantly.

"Just an old hunting knife and Clint's pager," Steve set everything down on a nearby bench. "Bow looks like Clint's handiwork though."

Steve had replaced Tony as the former closed the doors to the plane and went toward the pilot's seat.

"Am I the only one wondering how Barton managed to keep both himself and his kid secret for so long?" Tony questioned. "_Assuming_ this is even his child."

"Beats me," Steve admitted placing a bundle of blankets under the girl's head. She seemed to be responding well to the warmth. He pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. Her body temperature seemed to be improving. He shook her shoulder and her eyes shot open again. "How are you feeling?"

"Cold," she muttered with a small shiver. Steve located another blanket and tossed it over her.

"Can you tell me your name?" she seemed to be more aware as she warmed. He needed to keep her awake until Banner saw her, and he figured getting answers would be a good start.

"Dana," she paused in thought. "Barton."

"Can you tell me who your parents are?"

"Clint Barton," she replied slowly. "I don't know… I don't know my mother… never did."

"What happened Dana?" Steve spoke in an even and calm voice. After decades of being an Avenger, he'd perfected speaking to those who'd experienced traumatic events.

"I was reading and…" her voice waivered. "…there was shooting and my dad… I'd never seen him… he just…. And they hurt him. I just kept running."

Steve nodded in silent understanding at the young woman's story.

"…Snakes or dragons," she suddenly broke the silence, her eyes watered as she blinked back tears. "Like an octopus? But scarier… They took him… or killed him…"

The description hit Steve like a pile of bricks.

_Hydra_.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**: The reviews, favorites and alerts have been wonderful things to find when I check my email each morning! Thank you all for the support! I've been asked if Clint is alive or dead and we'll find out soon enough! Also I apologize for the delay in updating, I've been moving and I wanted to watch the new Avengers movie before continuing (there may be a few spoilers, so please wait to read until you've seen it!). Hope you all enjoy!

(-)

_Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips; we should just kiss like real people do._

(-)

When Dana had been very young, she begged her father to take her on a trip to the United States mainland. She wanted to be like the heroes she saw on her cartoons. She reasoned that heroes had to live in cities, not the woods.

Of course he'd told her no and distracted her with some sort of archery trick.

When Dana had turned 16, she had been selected by her gymnastics coach to travel to New York for a national competition. Through tears she begged her father to sign the permission slip to attend. He had been firm. That had been their first real fight. He threw the permission slip into the fireplace. She didn't eat for a week.

When Dana turned 18, she showed her father her acceptance to a university outside of Alaska. Nothing had been the same since that moment.

When Dana was 22, she woke up in a white, sterile room. Her father was nowhere to be seen.

"Good, you're awake," a male voice stated politely from the foot of Dana's bed. It took a moment for her to shake the fogginess from her head and her vision to adjust. The man was looking intently at a tablet and writing something down.

"Where is-?" Dana began and paused as the words caught in her throat. Her voice sounded foreign.

"It's all right," the man began with a smile. "My name is Bruce Banner, I've been looking after you. You had a heck of a case of frostbite, shock, and hyperthermia. You're in New York right now, in Avenger's tower."

"How?" Dana rasped, her eyes widening at the news. She was a small town, country girl. There was no way she'd end up in a place as spectacular as New York, much less the famous tower.

"Well, Steve found you in a mountain ridge out in Alaska after you paged us," he held up the familiar device. "Any chance you can tell me where you got this?"

"My dad gave it to me… for emergencies," she closed her eyes and attempted to fight back a vicious headache that began to overcome her.

Banner glanced back at his computer monitor. Tony and Steve had expressed their concern at the girl's origins so they'd requested a DNA test. It was beginning to wrap up when the girl spoke again.

"Have you found him? My dad?" she questioned quietly. "You are the Avengers after all, that's your job right?"

The room fell silent, aside from the soft beating of Dana's monitored pulse.

"We're following a few leads," he murmured. "We were waiting for you to wake up so we could get as much information as possible."

She nodded slowly and frowned. She had so many questions, but dizziness swamped her thought process. Dana didn't even know where to begin.

"Did you father tell you anything before you left?" Banner asked. He stepped away from her bed to answer to a small ping from a computer.

"Nothing," she admitted sighing.

"Finally," Banner muttered studying the results of the test. He pulled his glasses off of the top of his head. He had to have misread the maternal results. It wasn't possible. "Dana, what can you tell me about your mother?"

"Nothing," she replied. "I never met her. She died in a car crash when I was a baby."

Bruce ran a hand through his hair in confusion. Natasha had been sterile. There was no way she would have been able to carry a child, much less contribute genetically in the case of a surrogate. Dana Barton shouldn't exist.

(-)

"Nat and Clint really had a kid," Steve commented as Tony looked over Banner's DNA test for the third time that morning. "I didn't even realize they were the family types."

After realizing the sensitivity of the information, the pair had gathered in Tony's personal office for a discussion. They'd both determined it was the safest place for the confidential conversation considering Tony had it swept for bugs hourly.

"I don't think it was intentional," Tony murmured. "They were intimate but they were never, you know-"

"A _couple_," Steve finished the thought for his friend. "Yes, I know. It's just so strange. Nat died decades ago and we all thought Clint went the same way. Guess we didn't know them quite as well as we'd thought."

Tony set the tablet down and crossed his arms in thought. Everyone in the Avengers had assumed that Natasha and Clint's sacrifices had been the final blow that took Hydra down as an organization twenty years ago.

Of course that never stopped small factions of the organization popping up from time to time, but it was never as significant as it had been years previously.

"Can we even assume Natasha is dead?" Tony questioned. "If Clint's been around, maybe Hydra didn't take her out like we thought. We didn't find a body. We didn't find _anything_."

Steve nodded in silent consent. He knew from personal experience that some people found playing dead was the easiest way to avoid those who'd do them harm. Before the Ultron threat, Fury had disappeared for some time to handle what had happened to SHIELD. For agents like Nat and Clint Hydra may have forced them to protect themselves or someone else in silence.

"Let's start following some leads and see where they take us. Have you spoken to Banner personally yet?"

"Not since baby Barton woke up," Tony replied. "I wanted to go over a few more things with him and the kid before we move forward."

"I'll fill in the rest of the team," Steve offered. "Get Wanda and Sam on their way over."

"That's probably our best move," Tony agreed with a curt nod. "But don't mention anything to Chris just yet. Not until we need to mobilize."

"Understood," Steve turned and left the room quickly, leaving Tony in his office.

"Call Pepper," he ordered his computer. He could feel himself beginning to spiral mentally. He'd been in the hero business for some time, but losing friends and gaining them back from the dead... It never got easier. He had a lot on his mind and needed to vent to someone outside of the team.

Pepper had been doing work in Paris over the last few weeks and had generally been unavailable to talk, but Tony knew that any phone call he sent from this number she'd pick up immediately. Sure enough, seconds after the phone system pinged to life, Tony began telling her exactly what had occurred in the last 72 hours.

(-)

"What happened?" Chris leapt from the couch the moment Steve walked into the living area. "Is Clint alive?"

"It's need to know right now, I'm sorry," Steve replied with a frown. "I'm sure your father will tell you soon enough."

"Of course it is," he muttered and plopped back down on the couch. He pulled his laptop out and started digging around the Avenger's database. Every mission file from the last 72 hours had been locked down.

"Hey Chris, have you seen your father?"

Chris looked up from his computer seeing Dr. Banner and shook his head.

"No, haven't heard anything since they came back from Alaska," he replied. "Is everything ok?"

"Just a little bit of an issue with our patient," Banner sighed. "Well, more than a little."

"What kind of issue?" Chris hadn't heard that someone had been picked up from the Alaskan wilderness.

"I need to speak with your father first," Banner looked distracted and hurried along the hallway toward Tony's main office.

Chris closed his laptop and hurried toward the medical bay. If Steve was out of the building, his father was in his office and Bruce was heading in that direction, the medical bay would be empty. Chris would finally be able to get a little information.

When he arrived in the medical bay, he expected to find an aged SHIELD agent. His confusion was only amplified when he found a fire-haired, female, twenty-something, sleeping soundly.

He needed to know what was going on.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: I always blows my mind when I look at the stats for my story and see all of the different places people are reading it. Thank you all for the support! I am so sorry for the delay. Work and life are super hectic, but rest assured I haven't forgotten about my lovely readers.

(-)

_I knew that look dear, eyes always seeking. _

(-)

Clint gasped for air, cold water dripping down his now shaking frame. He'd lost track of how long he'd been in Hydra's captivity.

"Where is it?" a masked man demanded. The room Clint was in was dim, with only the man visible to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Clint shouted in response. "The shouting and water aren't helping your case either!"

That earned him another dunk in the water. He held his breath as long as he could. He didn't realize how quickly he would remember the tricks he'd learned while training for SHIELD. Once he moved up to a certain level, Fury mandated that every agent be ready for "aggressive" interrogation.

"The code, where is the code?" the man repeated.

"I'm at a loss. Maybe you should dunk me in the water? I'm sure that will help. It certainly has helped this far," Clint snapped and braced for another dunk in the tank. However, he wasn't met with cold water from the tank, but instead a firm punch in the face.

"We have your kid," the man hissed in Clint's face, he held the captive man by the hair and snarled. "And we're going to do all sorts of _colorful_ things to her if you don't talk."

Clint frowned. He knew the man was lying. If they'd found Dana, they would have found the code. They were trying to toy with him. They were trying to break him.

"Oh, _oh_, I think I remember… but please…" Clint murmured, forcing the man to lean low to hear him clearly. Instead Clint spat into the man's face. It didn't do much but irritate the man, causing him to signal that Clint be dunked back into the basin of water once again.

"I'd love some coffee after this," he gasped when he was given the opportunity to breathe again. "Do you realize how cold this is?"

"Forget it," the interrogator scoffed. He signaled to the person behind Clint to leave the room. The former Avenger was tossed aside like a ragdoll onto the cold cement floor. Once the interrogation team had left the room the lights dimmed to a single flickering light bulb.

Once he was confident he was alone, Clint twisted his wrists and slipped from his bonds with ease. The idiots had given him enough information to move forward with his plan.

Dana was safe. The code was safe. If she'd followed his instructions, his team would be on their way soon enough. The only dead end he'd faced involved Natasha. He had been confident that she would have fallen into deep cover with Hydra, but the archer had seen no trace of his former partner.

Granted, he did understand the danger in her attempting to contact him. If she'd put decades into creating her cover, it would be pointless for her to blow it to see an old friend.

Or the father of their child, but regardless, he understood.

It didn't take him very long to fashion a weapon out of a hidden fork and the rope he'd escaped from. It'd only been two decades, but it was clear that Hydra forgotten the ingenuity of SHIELD agents.

(-)

"So are we talking clone, or… what?" Tony hadn't had enough sleep for this conversation. He'd put Bruce off the day before and set up a meeting with his friend the following morning. "Should we kill her? What do you want me to do Banner?"

Unfortunately, Tony had been fielding calls all night from the team regarding Hydra and Barton's status, so the sleep he'd hoped for never came.

"Honestly, I think we should look for more information from the Hydra base after we extract Barton," Bruce replied adjusting his glasses. "I don't even know if Clint is aware of Dana's unique circumstances. If he does know, he can tell us more. If he doesn't, Hydra can tell us why they want them."

"That would be fine and dandy if we even knew where he was being held," Tony muttered in annoyance. "Everything is coming up empty."

"Everything? What about Fury?"

"He's about as lost as we are. He gave Steve a few leads they'd been following, but no dice. He could be anywhere."

"Steve mentioned Natasha…?" Bruce dared not betray the element of hope lining his tone.

"Nothing. Nada. Zero. They're all ghosts as far as our information is concerned," Tony leaned on his desk and sighed. "Plus we need to figure out what to do with the kid. I guess Hydra swept her university last night."

"Any casualties?" Bruce questioned.

"Nothing, thankfully," Tony shifted his hand from the deck to the middle of the room. A hologram of the news footage appeared before the pair. "They called it biological emergency and used it to access student records in the office. I got Vision looking into it and the only trace of her left now is some chemistry research she published with a professor."

"So she's published," Bruce noted. "I'm a little concerned how they knew so much about her when Clint was so careful to cover his tracks."

"Maybe she hit puberty and a microchip was activated," Tony replied sarcastically, he held his forehead and shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. There seems to be more to this than a simple kidnapping."

"Thanks Captain Obvious, I've been saying that this whole time," Bruce smirked.

"I'm running on like, three hours of sleep, don't toy with me Banner," Tony threw a pad of sticky notes at his friend.

"You rest up, doctor's orders, and I'll see what Dana has to say. She's been getting restless so I might take her on a tour or something."

"Be mindful of the restricted areas, I'll talk to you in a few hours," Tony yawned and gestured Bruce out of the office.

(-)

"Shit, shit, _shit_, oww…" Dana grumbled stepping out of the hospital bed onto her swollen toes. Bruce helped her stand so she wouldn't fall from the pain.

"Unfortunately we'll end up opening the pus pockets to uh, release the fluid that's built up from the frostbite," he explained apologetically. "The best you can do now is to get a little exercise to avoid blood clots from being immobile."

"Wonderful," she muttered. She looked down at her misshaped feet and sighed. This wasn't what she'd expected when she returned home for winter break.

"After we clear the gunk out, you should be back to yourself. It's the pressure that's causing you pain right now," Bruce let her wander around the medical bay without assistance. "If that helps."

"I guess that's better than losing a foot or something," she shrugged. "Have you found anything about my dad?" She knew that it was unreasonable to assume they'd found him overnight, but she held onto the hope that there's be some sort of news.

"No, we haven't, but Tony is working on it day and night," Bruce promised. Dana's expression shifted into a frown but she continued to study the equipment within the lab. Bruce decided a shift in topic would help her spirits. "Do you want a tour?"

"Of the tower?" Dana raised her eyebrows. "Not sure if my hobbit feet would let me."

"Ah but we have technology for that," Bruce disappeared into a closet and pulled out a pair of large socks with grips on the bottoms. "It's better than nothing."

"Seems to be the mantra for the day," Dana smirked and sat on the edge of her hospital bed. She pulled the socks on carefully over her swollen feet and smiled when she was ready. Though Dana wouldn't admit it, but she was grateful for the change in scenery. There was only so much medical bay that someone could handle.

"So each floor of the tower is broken down into training, research and development, storage, living quarters and so on. If you can dream it up, I can almost guarantee we've got it."

"Only we probably have it better," a young man joined the pair, walking in pace with Bruce and Dana. "Because I probably designed it."

"Dana, this is Chris Stark, Tony's son," Bruce introduced the dark haired young man. He gave a grin and offered a hand to Dana.

"And fellow Avenger," he insisted with a frown. He dropped his hand to his side and turned his attention to a tablet he carried at his side. "Everyone likes to leave that part out."

Dana nodded in understanding and studied the boy. She had a nagging feeling that she'd seen his face before. That's when it hit her.

"Didn't you blow up a car in Paris a year back?" she asked. It came back to her at once. The press had blown the story up, literally. His actions nearly caused an international conflict once the European Union had been made aware of American agents on their soil.

"I was trying to stop someone from stealing a purse," he glared at Dana. "And almost everyone has forgotten."

"I live in a mountain range with spotty wifi and no cable. Even I heard about it," Dana smirked. "They called an emergency United Nations meeting."

"Well, this is the armory," Bruce swiped a card through an electronic lock and waited for the doors to slide open. He wanted to break the tension building between the pair. Dana and Chris stepped in after him, Dana in awe by the massive room.

From top to bottom, weapons of all shapes and sizes lined the walls. From grenades to katanas, it seemed like the Avengers had thought of every possible scenario and collected a weapon to solve it.

"Wow," Dana muttered under her breath as she ran her hand along a display of throwing knives.

"The school kids are usually a little more impressed," Chris scoffed and turned his attention back to his tablet. Dana shot him a glare and walked to the other end of the room. A black bow sat on a display, a small light illuminating the weapon.

"Is this…?" she looked to Bruce for answers. The doctor nodded and smiled.

"You can pick it up if you want," he offered. Dana lifted the bow and held it gently. She blinked back tears that threatened to spill over.

"Aw, cry baby… Can you even shoot?" Chris asked. He leaned up against a nearby table and grinned. "I mean, you're so enthralled by that prehistoric toy."

"It was my father's," Dana snapped back. "_Hawkeye's_." The name tasted foreign.

"So you expect me to believe you are Clint Barton's daughter? Okay. And pigs fly," Chris challenged. Bruce shot a look toward Chris, begging him not to continue but the computer genius continued. "Why don't you prove it?"

Dana tried her best to ignore Chris' comments but turned around when he teased her about her father.

"Why on earth would I have to prove anything to you?" she questioned sharply. "The heroes that matter already know the truth. You're just a second rate... poser."

"And what does that make you? The damsel? Or would that be your father?" Chris crossed his arms smugly. He was finally getting the rise he wanted out of the young woman. "Is he actually kidnapped or is he faking that too?"

"Chris…" Bruce warned. "Don't you have something to be working on?"

"I've got plenty of time for Barbie dream archer over here."

No one was sure where Dana had pulled the arrow from, but the moment the sentence left Chris' mouth an arrow shot toward his hands and caught the tablet that he held.

It shot across the room and stuck to the wall, the arrow pinning the device through the middle.

"_Perfect_," Chris muttered with a grin and left the room. "Jarvis, pull up…" his voice trailed down the hallway.

Dana lowered her shooting stance and looked apologetically to Bruce.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine, he's a bit of an asshole. I can only guess where he gets it from," Bruce pulled the arrow from the wall and tossed the now broken technology onto the table. Dana replaced the bow and hurried back to Banner.

"So, where to next?"

(-)

The guard was unconscious by the time the dark haired woman made her way toward the prisoner's cell.

No alarms. No warnings. The prisoner had escaped without any trace.

She stepped into the cell and heard a crunch under her shoe and bent down to example its source.

A bloody fork with a string attached.

"Dammit Clint," the woman muttered under her breath. He should have waited. He should have known that she would have broken him out when the coast was clear.

She let out a sigh and started toward the nearest hallway.

Natasha Romanoff was in for a long night.

**Author's Note: **Let me know what you think! I tried to make this chapter a little long to make up for my utter lameness in updating! Thank you!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Thanks for all of the support! I'm excited to finally get to the good stuff in the story. Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think so far. I'd love to hear people's theories on where things are headed!

_(-)_

_Was there in someone dug long ago. So I will not ask you why you were creeping._

_(-)_

"I'm a biochem major," Dana explained looking through the drawer of samples that Bruce had unlocked. "I actually only have one more semester before I finish up my bachelors. I _had_ a graduate research position waiting for me after that but… who even knows anymore?"

"If this all works out, I'll write you a recommendation letter myself," Banner offered. "Have you been published?"

Dana nodded, her eyes fixing on a sample. She picked it up and examined the test tube.

"I did some research on a poisonous frog in Brazil, apparently the poison is an effective pain killer for cancer patients. I wrote out the formulas explaining the process and so on, it wasn't very exciting." Her gaze never left the sample. Her grey eyes were so intense it sent a chill of déjà vu up his spine. "I think they ended up going another direction with the research."

"It's something," Banner replied. "Any idea of what you want to do after school?"

"Well, after I get all of my fancy degrees and certifications I was thinking maybe something government. Seems to be the only place with job security these days."

"You know, you could always work in the private sector too," Bruce suggested.

He reached over and grabbed the test tube. He gestured for Dana to follow him to a microscope and set a few drops of the substance on a prepared slide.

"Reed Richards is always looking for assistants and I know for a fact Pepper needs some chem in her R and D department. She's been working on a type of biofuel contract with the air force."

Dana leaned over the device and raised her eyebrows in surprise. Bruce was only able to guess the ideas that were pouring through her mind at the unique sample.

"Genetic alteration?" she guessed and shot a glance at Banner. He shook his head and smiled.

"Think a little more… out of this world," he smirked. "We've collected our fair share of alien samples over the years."

"So this is...?" Dana questioned looking into the microscope again.

"Starlord's saliva."

"Ew," Dana laughed and turned back to the drawer of samples. Her eyes lit up in excitement as she picked up another sample and read the label. "I'm assuming you probably have a sample of Rocket Raccoon's fecal matter then?"

"No one said science was pretty," Banner flipped the microscope off and joined the younger woman. It was unnerving to him the similarities that she and Natasha shared. From small gestures and expressions to their sharp sense of humor. It was interesting to him how she chose to express her intelligence without the obligation Natasha had felt to the Red Room.

Of course she did have her fair share of Clint as well. She was what he would have expected if the two assassins had combined their biological structures.

He secretly wished he didn't have 20-year-old genetic samples from the pair to work with. The information in her genome had to be spectacular.

"I can't believe my dad never said anything about this," she finally stated as they closed up the lab and headed back toward the medical bay. The hallway they walked down featured fallen Avengers and she stopped in front of a portrait of Clint.

"He wanted to protect you from our enemies," Bruce tried to explain, but it was clear Dana didn't buy it. She was a kid after all. She'd never experienced the things they saw on a weekly basis. She wouldn't have understood the true threat their enemies presented.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "You guys are some of the most powerful beings in the universe. If anyone could protect us it'd be all of you. I just don't get it."

Bruce frowned. She didn't know anything about her parentage, the lies or their secrets. He had to remember that.

"Things can be complicated, trust me," Bruce shrugged and ushered her into the medical lab. Dana walked in front of him and sighed as he went to grab a few tools for her feet. It was time to release the fluid and wrap her wounds.

Dana needed more information. She felt like she wasn't getting the full picture and before she would be able to move forward, she needed to know more. If that meant tricking him a bit, so be it.

"I just feel like everything I've ever known is a lie," she muttered. "Was he teaching me archery for sport or survival? Did my mom even die in a car accident? I just want to know the truth, you know?"

She watched Banner for a reaction, anything to give away a secret or a lie.

Mention of her mother stirred something. He turned to face her, hands at his sides. His body language displayed guilt, maybe a hint of regret. He knew more than he was letting on.

"I'm sure your dad will tell you everything once we find him," Bruce simply stated, he began to get to work on her toes. Dana barely flinched when the blade touched her skin.

"Did you know her?" Dana made her eyes water slightly. She knew she had a part to play and tried to play it as convincingly as she could. "My mother?" the words came out as a whisper. The cherry on top, as Dana liked to think.

There it was. Dana had found something. Bruce's body language changed immediately at mention of her mother. More guilt.

"Please, just tell me something," Dana begged. He quietly finished his task and pulled off his surgical gloves.

Her tears were now flowing freely. She hated crying. Dana was a self-proclaimed 'ugly crier' and it was always a mess, even when she was trying to get her way.

Despite that, it had been successful over the years. Many an exam grade had been boosted with a few sloppy tears. "I just… I don't… I don't know what the truth is anymore."

"I knew your mother," he finally admitted softly. "And she was just as clever as you are at getting information from people."

He reached for his desk and grabbed a box of tissues. He handed her the box and smirked. "Nice try kiddo."

Dana reddened and rolled her eyes, wiping at her cheeks with the tissues he'd handed her.

"It was worth a shot," she said between tissues.

"You almost had me," he laughed. He leaned up against his desk and crossed his arms.

"Will you tell me anything?" she finally asked. "I don't care what. You can tell me about my dad, his missions, his favorite food."

"I'll see what I can think of. Hold still while I bandage those toes."

(-)

Chris had been hard at work in his computer lab when his father walked in. It was clear that Tony had barely slept and carried an aura of annoyance when he joined his son.

"Heard you tormented baby Barton?" Tony questioned. He plopped down next to his son and looked him over. They played this game often. The questions were more likely to be statements. His father already knew the answer.

So Chris played along.

"No idea what you're talk about," Chris waved a hand across the room and brought up a large holographic map. "I do know that baby Barton is also baby Romanoff. I know that big Barton has been kidnapped by Hydra and I also know where to find him."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because Friday is friends with Jarvis who is inside of Vision who can't lie very well. Also because Barton has been sending an SOS over a previously ignored SHIELD channel since about… like 6:15 this morning?" Chris pointed to his computer monitor that had traced the source. "Unfortunately I didn't get his location until about ten minutes before you walked in. I would have called you myself but I know how magnetic my genius is."

Tony ignored his son's comments and stepped to the computer. He typed a few commands and the coordinates were displayed clearly across the screen. The Hydra base was south of Vancouver. Chris had been right, when he opened the aged channel, a repeating Morse code played over the lab's speakers.

"Get the team on their way," Tony turned to his son.

"Already done. Cap's rallied the troops and everyone is ready to go."

Chris looked up at his dad and smirked. Tony was debating something deeply and Chris had a pretty good idea what it was.

"Suit up," he finally said. "But you only act under direct orders from Rogers, deal?"

"Two steps ahead of you," he pressed a button and a panel in the lab opened revealing a new suit. "I made you one too, if you wanna do daddy and son matching superheroes."

"Get to the hanger before I regret this," there was a trace of a smile in his father's expression.

Neither would let the other admit it, but Tony was proud.

Chris quickly closed his laptop and excitedly ran a hand through his curly brown hair.

"Friday! Get the preparations for Mach 12 ready to go…!"

(-)

There had been many bad days in Clint's life.

The day his wife and children died.

The day he'd left the Avengers.

The day he had been convinced Nat was gone forever.

He'd lost a lot, but he'd hoped that after the wave of despair passed, he would be able to live a normal life with Dana.

Of course it couldn't have been that simple. Hydra was involved from the beginning and they'd be involved at the end. He just needed to get as much information from their databases as he could. Which is why he was still evading security teams hours after his escape.

He had been able to sneak into one of the computer server rooms and send out a code on an old channel. If the Avengers had found Dana, they'd be checking every communication channel from the last twenty years. After he set it on a loop, he started to work digging for intel.

Clint wanted everything. Any projects they'd been working on, Natasha's location if she was still alive, and their purpose for the code they sought him for.

He pocketed any hard drives he could pull loose and tampered with any wires he could touch. It'd buy him a little time if he could ruin their security system for a time.

"Are you lost? Because the exit is that way," a female voice teased from behind him. He whirled around and went for a gun he'd stolen a few hours previously. His eyes narrowed and he spotted a familiar form.

"Nat?" he questioned. She was different, but the smirk etched across her features was the same.

"What do you think?"

The sounds of gunfire erupted from the next room ruined the pairs reunion and they quickly gathered what Clint had pulled free and started for the exit.

"So please tell me you've picked up some information," Clint huffed as they ran down a service hallway.

"I just spent 20 years in Hydra's service for fun," Natasha shot back. "Of course. I planned on getting you out and debriefing Fury and the team by dinner time, obviously."

"Two decades too late," Clint grumbled. A door at the end of the hallway swung open and revealed armed Hydra agents who began shooting at the pair immediately. Natasha tackled Clint into a crevice and began to fire back over his shoulder.

"Just like old times huh?" she laughed. Clint dropped down and started shooting from below. In minutes their enemies were down and they continued forward.

"Might need some of this," Natasha suggested as she reached down and pulled a few handgun rounds from the agents' bodies.

"Better safe than sorry," Clint agreed. "Please tell me you've been in contact with the team."

"Not yet, but I did catch your message," she looked past Clint and shot down a single agent running toward them. "They're bringing everyone out, I'd imagine it has something to do with our friends coming."

"Damn, I thought I was special," Clint mocked offense and followed Natasha.

"Don't let Steve hear that language."

She led the way down a handful of winding halls until she swung open a large metal door.

"And the lord said, let there be light," she mumbled as they stepped out into the sunlight. There wasn't a soul to be seen around them, but judging from the gunfire and explosions shaking the ground Clint surmised Natasha had been correct that the Avengers had arrived.

"I have a car waiting about a mile up the road," Natasha started toward a wooded path when Clint grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around.

"We need to talk."

"I'm not sure now is the best time," she eyed the building.

"Then later. I don't care when, but I need to know what they want with the code, how they know about Dana," Clint frowned. Dana had mentioned that he got angry in his old age and maybe she was right, but he wasn't losing something so valuable again. He'd barely coped before. Losing Dana would destroy him.

"All that and more," Natasha was already a few steps ahead of him. "I promise Clint."

And for a moment it felt to Clint like the last twenty years hadn't even happened. They were back in the field. In Budapest maybe, running some sort of ridiculous mission for Fury.

The guns, the explosions, the woods and the running. It all felt second nature to him again.

"It's over here!" Natasha shouted. She peeled back a tarp and revealed an impressive looking Jeep. "Get in."

Clint obliged and within seconds they were on their way.

"Where are we heading?" he asked her. She remained silent. "Nat. Where are we going?" he repeated, his voice lower and more threatening.

"There's a bow and quiver in the back," she simply responded. "We need to make a quick detour before meeting with the team."

It was like the last twenty years hadn't happened.

(-)

Though Dana would never admit it openly, she cherished her skills at archery.

Any time she felt down, confused or angry, a few hours on a range soothed her emotions.

It was her special sanctuary. None of her schoolmates knew of her talent and those who frequented the range kept focused on their own targets.

After Bruce had patched up her feet, he offered her the use of their range while the rest of the team went on a mission. Of course she wasn't alone at the tower, Sam Wilson had offered to act as watch while they were gone, though Dana insisted she would be fine for a few hours.

After hearing that, Tony had joked about a arrow through his head if Dana had gotten hurt on their watch. Everyone else had shifted uncomfortably and the subject was quickly changed.

Another arrow met its target and Dana lowered her stance and walked toward it.

She was frustrated that she hadn't been able to talk to Bruce about what he knew, but he promised that after he had time to recover from 'the other guy' they'd have a conversation over tea.

That was, he insisted, assuming they didn't rescue her father and they had the conversation themselves.

She pulled the arrow free from its target and ran a hand over the hole.

Dana wasn't even sure how she'd approach the subject with him. It'd been five days since they were attacked in the night and everything had changed. She still wasn't even sure if she was going to tell Bruce or any of the Avengers about the USBs her father had given her.

This was the world she was in now. This was the game she had to play.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: After 40-something hours in a car across the US, I finally threw together the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it! I'm really excited with where the story is going. Let me know what you might be interested in seeing or what you think might be happening soon! I love getting reviews from everyone! I'm super bad about responding, but they truly mean the world to me.

(-)

_In some sad way, I already know. So I will not ask you where you came from. _

(-)

_Thunk_.

The arrow hit its mark and Dana let out her held breath. The tower as a whole had been tense since the team had returned empty handed.

_Thunk_.

Dana had taken Steve's suggestion and was now practicing on moving targets in the range. It wasn't very challenging. She'd had plenty of experience taking down sprinting deer with a simple recurve bow. This time, she was using her fathers combat bow and shooting at bright targets.

While it wasn't difficult, it certainly helped numb her own frustrations.

Chris had casually mentioned over dinner some of the information that he'd found in the hydra base. He was immediately silenced by Tony who'd shot a glance in Dana's direction. The subject was quickly changed.

This seemed to be the pattern around the tower and the team.

It'd only been a week since the failed mission, but Dana was just as clueless as she had been when she'd first arrived. Bruce secluded himself in the lab, and found excuses to avoid Dana whenever she approached him about her father or the mission.

_Thunk_.

No one wanted to tell her anything. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell they all had secrets, but what infuriated Dana was that these secrets now involved her. She was positive she wasn't being paranoid, the hushed voices and silences whenever she walked into the room, the pitying glances from the various members of the team.

"You're scary good this."

_Thunk_.

The arrow hit its mark and Dana turned around. She lowered her weapon when she realized that Chris had joined her.

"I guess it's in my blood," she replied. She took the break as an opportunity to adjust the bow.

"I'm sorry about your dad," Chris finally said after a moment. Dana's hand slipped from the top of the bow and the string shed been adjusting broke loose. It snapped toward her wrist and left a nasty cut.

"Dammit," she grumbled. Her hand went to cover the wound and she looked around the room for a first aid kit. Chris pulled one from under a nearby bench and offered it to the redhead.

"I did find some information that should make you feel better at least," he offered. Dana kept her focus on tending to her wound. "Your dad is at least alive. I think he escaped before we arrived."

"Is that what everyone wants you to keep from me?" She asked bitterly. "Because honestly that's a really stupid secret. I could have figured that out myself."

Despite her aggressive tone, she was only half sure that he'd been alive, based off of a conversation shed heard between Dr. Banner and Steve in the infirmary. After they'd discovered she was awake a decision was made to move her to a more permanent room in the tower. Away from any potential secrets.

Dana was slightly relieved to hear her theory was confirmed by the irritating Stark child.

"You're a little hostile, has anyone ever told you that?" Chris commented as he took a seat on the bench near her. She finished bandaging her arm and fixed her bow.

"I believe the last time we had spoken you called me Barbie dream archer and insulted my family. I think that warrants a little hostility."

"I actually wanted to apologize for that," he began. He ran a nervous hand through his dark hair and shrugged. "How would you like to leave the tower tonight? My mom ordered some clothes for you and they should be delivered soon. I know this place can be stir crazy." He was slightly rambling and Dana smirked.

"Do I get to go on the front porch?" She asked sarcastically. It was quietly agreed amongst everyone in the tower that she was to stay put until they knew what to do with her. "Or is there some sort of tether involved?"

"I was thinking more of a tour of the city and maybe dinner?" Chris offered. "You haven't seen anything until you've seen New York."

"I beg to differ, Fairbanks is a beautiful city," she let a small chuckle escape. "All right Stark, I'm in. Just nothing weird... I don't want this to turn into some mission involving serial murders or something."

"Oh, we figured that out last week, so you're golden. Let's meet up in an hour?"

"Deal," she nodded and watched him as he left the room. She shook her head and pulled another arrow from her quiver and nocked it back.

Thunk.

What was she thinking?

(-)

Clint watched Natasha from the inside of the Jeep. She was leaned up against the hood of the vehicle, a cell phone pressed to her ear.

If he hadn't trusted the assassin with his life, he would have left days previously. But Nat insisted that their target was closer and closer. When they arrived at the coordinates she'd been given, nothing was there. Which was why they now sat at the side of the road somewhere in Wyoming, waiting for further answers.

She gave a nod to herself and hung up the phone. With a short look at Clint she gestured for him to join her outside of the car and he quickly obliged.

"So?" he began. He folded his arms across his chest and studied his partner. Her red hair was beginning to peak through her roots and the dark brown color was fading from the rest of her hair. She looked tired. Years of espionage did that to you.

"He got delayed," was her simple response.

"Care to tell me who 'he' is? Or are we going to act like strangers this whole trip?"

Natasha's expression never waivered. Years of concealing her emotions made it difficult to read her. Clint used to be very good at it, but she clearly became better at masking it.

"That would involve a very long story that I would prefer him to explain," she muttered.

"Can you tell me anything? I think I deserve some explanation. I've followed you halfway across the country and left our daughter with people we hid from for twenty years."

Natasha didn't respond and instead turned around and went for the drivers side of the Jeep. She pulled the door open and sat down, her gaze fixed on the empty road in front of her.

Clint quietly joined her. He pulled the car door shut and stared forward. Finally Natasha faced him and frowned.

"She's a sleeper for Hydra."

"A what?" Clint's rational train of thought came to an abrupt halt.

"Dana, she's a sleeper for Hydra. They have something big planned."

"How did they...? You gave birth to her...? Didn't you?" Flabbergasted was an understatement. Clint was confused, angry, and a whole mix of emotions he couldn't quite name.

"I did not. I went on a mission for Coulson and found her in a lab twenty something years ago. She had our genetic markers, Clint. The Hydra scientists at Shield had been cooking her up for a while. She's a weapon."

"She's our daughter, Natasha," Clint corrected. He held his forehead in frustration and attempted to process the information.

"In a biological sense, I suppose," she admitted. "Though realistically she's more of a fifty-fifty clone. There are no new genes inside of her as there would be in a real offspring."

"They Jurassic Park'd our daughter."

"Don't take it too hard on yourself. It's not your fault Fury kept our genomes on record."

"You lied to me."

Natasha shrugged.

"I didn't tell the truth, but I definitely didn't lie. I told you the kid needed supervised and you needed something to cope with. It was… a win-win at the time."

A fire lit up inside of Clint and he slammed his fist on the dashboard of the car.

"The only reason I even needed to cope was because of Shield in the first place!" he snapped, the dashboard dented down slightly and he reeled back his emotions.

"That's a little much," Natasha's tone lowered and she watched Clint carefully. "Rumlow was obsessed with getting revenge, he followed Steve on a routine mission to check on them. No one saw it coming Clint." She looked him in the eyes and frowned. "I would have been there. I should have been there."

"No one bothered to let me know the lapse in security. No one bothered to let me know my address was on record, that my family was vulnerable. You could have told me at anytime. But waited until the last second. You all waited until they were at gunpoint. Compartmentalization my ass."

Clint tried to think of the day as little as possible, but his memory was still fresh from the nightmares that haunted him daily. His wife's face as she accepted her fate that afternoon, his children screaming for mercy from masked men.

A silent tension fell between the old friends. Natasha shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It was the first time Clint had been able to see past the mask she'd been wearing the entirety of the trip.

Finally, she felt the need to change the subject. Neither of the spies wanted Clint to suffer a breakdown midway through the mission, and Clint knew she was trying to pull him away from his anger and frustration.

"If it makes you feel any better, it helped me thinking she was my own too. It was a relief knowing they couldn't find her. Until they did. I wanted to be in the loop in case anything happened in case we needed to save her. That's why I went undercover into Hydra," Natasha looked at her lap. "She's the closest thing I'll ever have."

Clint knew only vague details of what had happened in Natasha's other life. He never watched to press her but suddenly the realization of what she'd just said hit him.

They were both aching. They both wanted answers. They both wanted to protect Dana.

"The USBs. You specifically told me not to destroy them. Why?" He knew business would help ease her mind. It always did in the past, and he knew it would help him as well. They had a common goal.

"That's the information we should be getting from my source," she replied, noticeably relieved. "He and his colleague are kind of experts in this sort of thing."

(-)

"No, absolutely not."

"Dad, come on. It's been ages. She needs some breathing room or I'm sure she's going to snap and put an arrow through all of our heads."

Pepper Potts-Stark watched the two men in her life pace back and forth across the room. She sat comfortably with a glass of wine on the table near her and her legs crossed. The scene was far too common within the Stark household.

"And when you two get ambushed by Hydra agents?" Tony questioned. "Even if she was field trained the two of you are hardly equipped to handle that kind of onslaught."

"You're telling me Iron Man wouldn't be able to reach us in time?" Chris challenged with a small grin. "The Avengers must be getting slow in their old age."

Pepper raised her eyebrows and took a small sip of her wine. He certainly knew how to push Tony's buttons. She often imagined the same dynamic was present between Tony and his own father before his death. The pair continued to bicker for three more sips of wine before Tony finally began to yield.

"You bring FRIDAY to monitor the area for bugs and trackers, and you take the SUV. Bring what you need and don't hesitate to call. Is that fair enough? Don't go further than a few miles."

"I knew you'd see my side of things," Chris gave his father a pat on the shoulder, which caused Pepper to nearly snort on her drink. She had only been home a day and the two always managed to bicker and reconcile before she had a chance to stand from her evening drink.

"And if you penetrate her, I will personally see to it that you're written out of the will," Tony added sharply.

"Tony!" Pepper finally spoke up. "I think he knows better than to seduce the child of two of the most dangerous assassins in history." She sent a look in Chris' direction. He rolled his eyes and shrugged off the threats.

She knew the boy had some of Tony's less desirable traits when it came to women and she hoped he would put that aside for the evening. While she agreed it would do Dana some good to leave the tower, she felt Chris needed a companion that wasn't fleeting or computerized. In her mind, the whole idea would be very successful and positive for everyone involved.

"It's dinner and a small walk around town, relax," he assured the pair. "I intend to be the perfect gentleman."

In unison Pepper and Tony snorted before sending their son out of the room.

"Be safe," Pepper called after him as he stepped into the elevator and waved. The doors slid shut and she turned to her husband. "I'm just glad he isn't making his assistant clean up in the morning."

"Unlike some of us, his father was involved in his upbringing," Tony protested lightly. He gave Pepper a soft kiss on the cheek and started toward his lab.

"Leaving so soon?" She asked coyly. She finished her drink and set it on the table. Tony stopped in his tracks and whirled around.

"I could _not_ leave..." He offered. She smiled and grabbed his hand. As she led him toward the bedroom he ordered the security system on their floor to activate and the cameras in their suite to be turned off. "... For an hour..."

"I've been gone a _month_."

"Two hours JARVIS, chop chop."

(-)

"You're thinking about training her for the field, aren't you?" Sam asked Steve as the duo watched Dana in the range. He had to admit, the girl had serious talent, talent that could prove useful for the team.

"I'm considering it," Steve replied. His focus never left her as she moved across the room and shoot at the various targets. "I'm not sure if she'd be interested. She certainly would have the discipline, but there isn't a motivation. Not yet."

"Show her the cabin," a familiar female voice stepped up behind the pair. Sam had to stop himself from jumping. Two decades with the Scarlet Witch and she still managed to creep in without him detecting her. "If you want motivation so badly. Seeing your home destroyed changes you."

Steve shook his head.

"She's seen so much already. That seems like a step too far."

"What if she asks to see it?" Wanda's eyes began to glow.

"If she does so _without_ suggestion, I will," Steve stated firmly. "I'm not about to hide everything from her like some people in this team."

"So when are you telling her who her mother is?" Wanda asked, her own gaze transfixed on the redhead moving gracefully from target to target below them.

Steve didn't reply.

"You cannot hide one thing and show her the other. Deception only fuels distrust. Distrust can very easily turn to anger," Wanda set her hand on Steve's shoulder. "And we've seen what kind of destruction is brought on by anger."

Before Sam or Steve had a chance to respond Wanda left the room as quickly as she'd entered. Her warning lingered in the air a moment before Sam spoke up.

"Well, she has a good point," he agreed. After watching Dana practice, he certainly didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of the arrows. "Though you might shake the boat on the team a bit."

They both watched as Dana's attention went from the target to a person joining her. Chris Stark approached her and began to converse.

"Maybe I won't need to be the one to tell her," he said. Sam looked over his shoulder and nodded. The Stark boy had a habit of sticking his nose where it shouldn't be; it would only be a matter of time before Dana knew the full story. Assuming she befriended him.

"How much do you think he knows?" Sam asked.

"I think the real question is, how much is he willing to share?" Steve corrected.

"Probably more than we would expect," Sam noted the body language between the two before Chris left Dana alone. The next few days were going to be very interesting within Avenger's Tower.

(-)

A/N: WHEW! That was a long one! Thank you for reading and I'm hoping to have the next chapter up this week!


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Where do I get one of those Kim Kardashian jobs where you get kind of paid to exist? I'd certainly have a LOT more time to update this story as often as I'd like. Thanks for your patience! This chapter has been a lot of fun to write AND we get to see some more characters introduced into the story line.

(-)

_I would not ask and neither would you. Honey just put your sweet lips onto my lips._

(-)

It took Dana longer than she would have liked to select an outfit that fit her properly. While most of the pants and shirts were close, she was annoyed to find that some tugged a little at her sides when she tried to button them shut. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the gesture or the thought that Pepper had imagined her significantly smaller, she just wanted to get out of the scrubs she'd been wearing for a few days straight.

When she finally selected a pair of dress pants and a blouse, she looked herself over in the mirror and smiled. She looked good. She didn't look like a crazy woodland forest child, but a young woman in her early twenties going for an afternoon out in New York City. It was refreshing, and while the clothes were a far cry from the jeans and tee shirts she wore during the school year, it was fun to look cleaned up from time to time.

She ran a brush through her hair and nodded at her reflection in satisfaction. Dana Barton was actually excited to finally leave the tower and see a city she'd dreamt of since she was a small child, despite the circumstances that led her there. She grabbed a winter coat and hurried to the elevator. She was already running late.

Chris was waiting for her when she arrived in the lobby of the tower. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a buttoned up grey peacoat. It looked like he tried to style his wavy brown hair, but gave up and allowed it to fall naturally.

"Are you ready?" he asked with a grin. He offered his arm to Dana and she nodded while she took it.

"What's first on the agenda?" she questioned as they stepped outside toward a large SUV parked in front of the building. Snow that began to slowly fall caught in her hair as Chris opened the car door and ushered her inside. With the afternoon sun dipping behind the skyline and the small flurry of snow, the city looked magical.

"I have early dinner reservations at this amazing restaurant. Then I thought maybe we could check out Times Square? I was thinking Central Park earlier but I'm sure you've had enough nature to last a lifetime. Plus we should go when it's warmer out…" he rambled. He was nervous, Dana noted.

"Times Square sounds great," she stated as he situated himself in the seat next to hers.

"Sounds like a plan," he nodded to the driver who began pulling the SUV away from the tower. As the pair made their way into the city, Dana Barton forgot for a moment the pain she had waiting for her back at the tower.

(-)

"So you'll probably recognize one of my informants," Natasha warned Clint as they pulled into the parking lot of a Super 8 Motel in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

"I swear to god, if we're just meeting up with Nick I might actually kill you," he stated. He swung the Jeep into park and followed Natasha toward the lobby of the small motel.

"Excuse me," she looked at the man operating the front desk. He kept his eyes on a computer screen in front of him, oblivious to the flies that swarmed around his head. "I'm supposed to be meeting a friend in the business suite?"

"Down the hall, to your left," he replied without a second glance at the odd couple. Clint, on the other hand, spared a few more looks at the man before hurrying after Natasha.

"Did he just not notice the flies?" he asked her. She gave a smirked and continued down the hall. "That would drive me nuts…"

"_That_ would drive you nuts?" she laughed as they rounded the corner and found a small room with a few pieces of business equipment and a large table. "Not the years of torture and manipulation by our enemies?"

"It's like aerial waterboarding, they could fly in your mouth…" he trailed off when Natasha turned the lights on in the room and his attention settled on a man at the end of the table. He sat still. Unnaturally still, and his metal arm went beyond unsettling for Clint. Not to mention the man hadn't aged a day since he saw him last, over twenty years previously.

"Clint, this is James Barnes," Natasha introduced. "James is an old associate of mine. He is pretty much my go to person for all things HYDRA. I've trusted him with my life the last few decades."

"That's not something Natasha says about a lot of people," Clint muttered when he approached the man and sat down near him. He'd heard the stories about James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, he'd seen the videos and read the news about him. He heard how he was one of Steve's lost friends, how he helped infiltrate numerous HYDRA headquarters and how he murdered some of the most influential people of the last century. If his back-story didn't scream dangerous, the metal arm and haunted look in his eyes did.

Natasha did a small review of the room with a small device in her hand. She was looking for bugs or any type of technology to record their meeting.

When she sat down, a silence fell over the room. Clint mused how there had to be joke somewhere about a room full of assassins, when Natasha finally spoke.

"What do you know about project Blackhawk?" she asked their companion. Clint couldn't help it. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"They called it project _Blackhawk_?" He asked incredulously. "I guess subtlety isn't their thing."

"I'm assuming they wanted their targets to know exactly who was killing them," James finally moved from his frozen position and leaned forward in his chair. "Who doesn't know about the exploits of Black Widow and Hawkeye? I certainly wouldn't want the clone of your best traits after me."

That shut Clint right up. The iron lad certainly had a point.

"So she is a clone?" Natasha clarified, shooting a look in Clint's direction.

"Genetically," James nodded solemnly. "But she is a human being, as natural as you and I. She was just born in an artificial womb as opposed to a natural one."

"Are there others?" Clint finally asked the question that was dancing between him and Natasha.

"Not with her background. They are training…" he looked down.

Natasha's expression paled and she met eyes with Clint. They both knew what that meant. A new army of young assassins, HYDRA didn't need volunteers when they could rip children from their homes and train them day and night.

Clint needed to change the subject before he got sick.

"What about the USBs? Natasha gave me a few hard drives when she dropped Dana off. I looked them over a few years ago and it was gibberish. Letters and numbers… I've never seen code like it before," Clint sighed.

"It isn't code. It's a chemical formula. It's _the_ chemical formula," James paused and allowed the information settle between the pair.

"They did it," Natasha breathed. "They found the super soldier serum."

"And they improved upon it," James nodded. "They made a soldier to genetically react to it and obey their orders while under its influence."

"How?" Clint couldn't believe any of the information this man was telling them.

"They made project Blackhawk, and left gaps to fill with the serum when she reached the appropriate age," James answered. "If she were to be captured and the USBs with the information found, it would mean disaster."

"Then why didn't we destroy them in the first place?" Clint looked to Natasha who nodded to James to continue.

"Because the gaps in her DNA need something in order for her to continue living. Her major proteins will stop synthesizing if something is not provided in the next year," he explained. "She will die."

It was ridiculous. Clint would not believe what he was hearing. This was the type of thing that someone found in scfi novels, not in the daughter he raised for the last twenty years. She was normal. She went through puberty and had a crush on the local football star.

"How do you even know this?" Clint accused. He tried to hide the distrust in his tone, but to no avail. James took the question with more grace than Clint would have expected.

"I know because I was their first guinea pig and I went back for answers," James' voice wavered slightly. "Blackhawk was to begin shortly after HYDRA was found in SHIELD. After they lost me, they needed a new asset. They needed an asset with no memories or connections."

"Well that certainly backfired," Clint snorted.

"_That_ was the plan," Natasha added. "When Coulson got wind of the Inhumans and the experiments HYDRA was conducting on the Maximoffs, he wanted me to get in under deep cover. I found her file after a warning from James and tracked down the facility."

"She was at least a year or two old at that point, at least in terms of the normal aging progression for humans," James added to the story when Natasha paused. "They were pushing long term. If HYDRA failed over the next few decades, Blackhawk would put it back on course."

"And twenty years later we're sitting at this desk, HYDRA wants their project back because they can get a fresh start and my dumb self decided it would be a good idea to take her hunting and teach her archery," Clint held his face in his hands and let out a groan.

"You what?" Natasha leaned forward in her chair abruptly.

"We'd go hunting and… she's good. She's really good," Clint grumbled. "Probably better than me."

"Well that's just wonderful," Natasha crossed her arms. "Why on earth would you think it was a good idea to teach her that?"

"Because I was under the impression she was an accident from our vacation in Budapest twenty something years ago!" Clint retorted to Natasha's embarrassment. "I assumed you dropped her off with me because you were on HYDRA's shit list, as usual. No one bothered to tell me she was Winter Soldier 2.0."

"You didn't tell him?" James asked Natasha quietly who quickly shushed him.

"You were supposed to tell me?" Clint stood up. "Seriously?"

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd try and go after me or something. It was safer to fake my death and go on with the mission."

"Oh great," Clint threw his hands up. "Next thing you'll tell me you were in contact with Fury this whole time."

"She _was_," a familiar voice came from the doorway of the room. Sure enough, Nick Fury entered the room and stood next to James. "She checked in weekly. Every Thursday for the last twenty years."

"When this is all over, I swear, I'm going to kill all of you," Clint shook his head in irritation and plopped back into his seat. "You're all long overdue."

"He's the one who told me to stay quiet about it," Natasha pointed to the former SHIELD director.

"The last thing we needed was the intelligence community knowing that the biggest threat to world security was a teenaged girl in a high school outside of Fairbanks," Fury shrugged.

"I mean, it would have been helpful to know about it myself," Clint grunted. "You know, to get her into baking or soccer or something."

"We will deal with that when or if she is exposed to the serum," Fury took charge of the conversation. "Our question now is how we get her to a SHIELD safe house without alerting the Avengers of our intentions?"

"Can't we just tell them? Bruce would be able to figure out the problem in days, I'm sure," Clint looked at the table and frowned. "What?"

"We aren't sure how secure the tower is," Fury admitted. "We've received some whispers of a mole, but we aren't certain who it is. Given the teams history… it's difficult to tell if the person is working for HYDRA, another agency or worse. Until we know more we can't exactly go in guns blazing."

"You're telling me you think someone like Tony Stark is telling HYDRA our secrets? Admit it, you've all lost your minds," Clint sighed. This was getting more complicated than he'd anticipated. Out of everyone he knew, he trusted the members of the Avengers with his life. That's why he alerted them to Dana's presence.

"I wish that were true," Natasha leaned back in her chair. "And unfortunately we need to extract Dana before any more potentially damaging information is located about her."

"What do you mean?" Clint's eyebrows rose.

"Maria is still working with Stark on a few projects," Fury explained. "She has access to most levels of his security system and found a working project on Dana's genome by Dr. Banner. If that information were to fall into the wrong hands…"

"So what's the plan?" Clint finally asked. The trio of assassins looked to Nick Fury and waited for his instruction. It was like they picked up where they left off, aside from the metal man.

(-)

When the entrée was place in front of Dana, she had to try he best not to gasp. She'd ordered a simple sandwich and salad, but was presented with a culinary masterpiece. It was almost too beautiful to even consider eating.

"I thought you said this was just a normal café?" she leaned forward and whispered to Chris as the waiter finished presenting their meals.

"It is," he insisted. "I mean, it's not McDonalds, but it also isn't the fanciest of places. It's like, average."

Dana snorted and looked around the restaurant. _Average_, she reminded herself. She was fairly certain a few celebrities were sitting at the tables around her and the meal cost more than her college tuition. When she looked back at Chris, his brown gaze was studying her intensely.

"So, I wanted to talk to you about the other night," he stated. He lifted up his watch and pressed a few buttons. "But unfortunately, there are ears everywhere. I figured this would be the safest bet."

Dana thought back, the other night had been the dinner debacle where Tony had interrupted Chris when he was about to explain something.

"Go on," Dana leaned forward, lowering her voice to match Chris' pitch. So that's what all of this was about. It made sense. The tower had JARVIS and FRIDAY listening everywhere, and on top of that, there were Avengers wandering around at all times of the day. In essence, there was no privacy.

"Well, I'm not sure how much you want to know, but," he pulled a folder out of the leather case he'd brought with him. "There's quite a bit, and it might be a bit shocking."

Dana took the folder and flipped through the first few papers.

"How do you have my birth certificate?" she knew the paper well. It was the only connection she had to her lost mother. Dana traced her hand over the maternal section where it read "Natalie Rushman".

"I also have your social security information and passport," Chris explained. "Because they are really convincing forgeries."

"Excuse me?" Dana looked over the file at her companion.

"They're forged," Chris repeated slowly. He looked over his shoulder and returned his attention to Dana. "Dana, you don't technically exist. Did you know that?"

She set the file on the table and shook her head.

"You're insane," she stated sharply. She should have known better. Chris Stark was a jerk. Of course he would try to play a cruel joke on her like this. "They wouldn't let me go into college if I didn't exist. They do background checks before they allow you in the lab."

"You are aware your parents are some of the greatest spies in history, right?"

"My father taught a hunting class at our recreation center and my mother was a teacher," Dana snapped. She pulled the napkin off of her lap and tossed it onto the table. "And if you'll excuse me, I have things to go shoot. Just be glad it isn't you."

She threw her chair back and left the restaurant abruptly, much to the confusion of its other patrons. She knew she was being irrational. Her dad was Hawkeye after all, not just the seasonal bow-hunting instructor in her small town. And her mom, she didn't even know what to believe. But she certainly wasn't going to believe Chris. She existed. She was born in a hospital and lived in Alaska her entire life.

She had friends from high school, dated a football player and wrote a paper on frogs. He was just being cruel again. That had to be it.

She heard footfalls behind her and she groaned.

"Chris, go away," she hissed without turning.

"I'm not lying to you," he insisted once he caught up with her. "What do I have to gain by lying to you?"

"I don't know," she frowned and kept walking. "But it clearly is amusing to you in some sick sadistic way."

"I'm trying to help you!" he shouted after her. She stopped walking and turned around.

"I don't think telling me I don't exist is the best way to go about that."

"I mean, it gets worse, so I figured it would be like pulling off a bandaid…"

He stepped toward her and offered up the file. She grabbed it without a word and sat down on a nearby bench. She kept her gaze fixed away from him. She couldn't trust him. She couldn't trust anyone in this city.

"I think you should just read it, then we can talk," he said quietly. He pressed a button on his watch and summoned their driver. "Just keep it hidden and read it in the bathroom where there are no cameras. My dad would literally kill me."

Dana kept the file folded shut in her lap. It wouldn't hurt to see what the fantasy he was trying to get her to believe would be. She'd play along, for now.

(-)

AN: if anyone is interested I have a playlist I created that goes along with the fic. Some of the lyrics will probably pop up at some point at the tops of the chapters, but it's fairly extensive. Just let me know and I'll PM you the list of songs and artists. Thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: This chapter was like pulling teeth. I had a dreaded bout of writer's block but I'm hoping to get things rolling again in the next few chapters.

(-)

_Like a small boat on the ocean, sending big waves into motion._

Fight Song- Rachel Platten

(-)

Wanda Maximoff had made a general rule of not trusting others unless they had proven trustworthy. With that being said, she trusted Pietro, and she trusted the archer, Clint Barton.

Those were the only two that she'd truly seen vulnerable and honest with her in her life.

The other members of the Avengers, they were simply companions. Yes, she had grown close with Vision over the years, and Steve Rogers had shown his own type of ingenuity and honesty in the field; but everyone locked up their pain and vulnerability. Clint knew he was human and embraced the very meaning of it.

That's why she took a special interest when his daughter was found in the mountains of Alaska.

She'd visited the young woman while she slept in the hospital wing and sensed the same honesty in her soul that she found in the archer. She saw frustration and she saw fear.

Fear, in Wanda's opinion, truly made someone honest. You could try to hide it behind capes and metal suits, but embracing it made someone more powerful than any of the Asgardian warriors.

She was convinced this was how Clint was able to survive so effectively against aliens, monsters and gods.

But one day he needed a break. From everything. Ultron had shown him the vulnerability of his humanity and he sought his family. So he hid. Wanda, however, saw him on two other occasions after that day.

The first was a visit to his farm to thank him for helping her discover her own strength and helping her to cope with the loss of Pietro. They'd chatted and watched his wife, Laura, try to wrangle the children for dinner. It'd been laughter and peace.

The second was at the funeral of his family, a small affair with only those closest to Clint in attendance. Three tiny coffins lined next to a full sized one. Clint sat stone faced and empty as the priest spoke.

Wanda had been fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to receive an invitation to the devastating and solemn event. She exchanged a brief glance and nod from a broken Clint Barton and watched him disappear into the fog of the graveyard.

She hadn't seen him since that day. She'd heard stories that he had sacrificed himself in the investigation of a HYDRA warehouse, that he sought revenge for him family and found it. At the same time, he was able to be reunited.

Like the others, she kept busy training and kept her attention focused on other things. Everyone handled the loss in his or her own ways. Tony had begun a fallen Avengers memorial, erecting a statue of Pietro and Clint next to one another. It seemed like no time had passed before a statue of Natasha Romanoff was set next to Clint.

That's were Wanda found the girl; 21 years later.

Dana Barton was sitting on the floor in front of the memorial. A few members had popped up in it over the years, Steve after a botched assassination attempt, Thor once or twice, even Maria Hill and Fury had taken a spot in the memorial for a brief period of time.

Wanda tried to get a read on the girl before approaching her, but all of her emotions jumped from place to place. Confusion, anger, sadness, hopelessness, pride…

"They had all fought so bravely," Wanda commented taking a seat next to Dana. The girl didn't move aside from a glance in Wanda's direction, acknowledging her presence. "My brother, though, it doesn't say how he died. Pity."

"How long was he an Avenger?" Dana asked quietly, gazing up at the statue of Pietro.

"A day and a half maybe," Wanda chuckled. Tony had been adamant on not putting dates of service in the memorial. He didn't want to invalidate someone's sacrifice over another's because of seniority.

"He must have been amazing," Dana sent a small smile toward Wanda.

"He was," Wanda agreed. "We were so close, and yet I could never figure out what his next thought or action would be. He was a good judge of character though."

"How did he die?"

"Clint Barton," she nodded to the statue near Pietro. "When Ultron attacked, he was saving a child and trying to get him on the escape craft. One of Ultron's robots had begun to attack and Pietro intervened…"

"He saved him," Dana whispered. "He died protecting… wow…"

"Like I said," Wanda shrugged. "A good judge of character."

"I'm so sorry," Dana muttered.

"It's not your fault," Wanda replied. "He made his own decision, I realized that over the years. He would have been so angry after Clint supposedly died. I always imagined the two of them meeting in the next life and Pietro teasing him relentlessly."

A silence fell between the pair before Dana finally spoke again.

"Natasha," she finally said the name out loud. Wanda noted how strange it sounded coming from the girl. "I knew her as Natalie, a school teacher."

Wanda nodded as Dana spoke. So she knew about her parentage.

"Natasha was a special kind of broken," Wanda explained. "She had a loyalty to very few people, but constantly sought redemption for the incidents of her past."

"She and my dad were close," Dana nodded. "That makes sense. They hid with each other didn't they? After Laura died."

Wanda had been briefed on the updated situation after intelligence from the HYDRA base had come to light. It seemed Dana had caught up as well. It was only a matter of time, Wanda had warned Steve that this would happen.

"Maybe for a time," Wanda said with a frown. "But I don't think it was a very long."

"Guess that's how babies are born," Dana snorted. "The rest of the story is straight forward enough."

"How so?"

"Well, I show up, he's all freaked out from losing his entire family, runs to rural Alaska and tries to live a normal life. He forged documents and managed it for a few years," Dana explained. "Though keeping his last name was probably not the best decision, in my opinion…"

Wanda scanned Dana once again and saw no resentment was present in her emotions. Just confusion and frustration. Dana Barton wanted to do something.

"Now we just wait," Wanda adjusted her tone and waited for a response from Dana. "He will turn up, I'm sure."

Dana kept her attention fixed on the statues in front of her and shook her head.

"No," she finally stated firmly. "I'm going to find some answers _and_ find my dad."

"Where would you like to begin?" Steve joined the pair and stood behind Wanda. He'd been there a while, but Wanda knew he didn't want to be detected. Steve knew the importance of pulling information from a person and felt the interaction didn't need his intrusion.

Dana whirled around and smiled at the Captain.

"That's a fairly ambiguous question sir," she replied before fishing around in her pant pocket for a piece of paper. She held it up to Wanda and Steve before crossing her arms. "I'd like to go _there_."

"The farmhouse it is," Steve nodded at the address scribbled on a piece of napkin. "I'll get the plane ready."

(-)

It was late when Chris Stark received a notification that one of the jets was being used by Captain Rogers for confidential reasons.

He frowned and studied the manifest request carefully. It wasn't like Steve to go on a mission alone, but the manifest specifically noted that there was only one passenger onboard.

When Chris tried to pull up the internal camera on the jet, he was met with static. What was Captain Rogers up to?

While he searched, another ping alerted Chris to an incoming audio transmission to the jet. While he wasn't able to listen to the conversation itself, he traced the source to a SHIELD safe house in the Midwest. After a few moments of investigation, he found the source to be specifically outside of Wyoming.

Chris wasn't familiar with any SHIELD operations in the Midwest, at least to his personal knowledge. With a quick skim of the SHIELD database he found a few notes involving the movement of Maria Hill and Nick Fury throughout the country.

One path had them going north, another west, and a third sent them into South America, but Chris followed each lead and found everything connected in Wyoming.

The jet, however, was headed for Iowa. A smirk crossed Chris' features as he realized what was located in the state. Perfect. Everything was going according to plan.

Chris slammed his laptop shut and hurried out of his room toward the lobby of the tower. He needed to make a few phone calls before proceeding.

In his hand, he toyed with a pair of USBs while he waited impatiently for the elevator to reach the bottom floor of the tower. Things were about to get very fun.

(-)

"What do you mean _Iowa_?" Clint gaped at Fury as the group made their way into the parking lot of the Super 8.

"Captain America, The Scarlet Witch, Falcon and your daughter are on their way to Iowa," Fury repeated slowly.

"Why?" Clint stopped outside of the jeep and frowned.

"Because I'm sure they'd love some corn and pig wrestling, why do you think?" Fury snorted. "Rogers told me that she knows a little more than we're willing to give credit for."

"She doesn't know…" Clint began and Fury shook his head.

"She doesn't know she's going to destroy everything good and just in the world," Fury corrected. "She does know who her biological mother is, however."

Eyes turned to Natasha who shrugged.

"Good for her, maybe she'll stop acting as impulsively as her father," she chuckled and crawled into the passenger seat of the jeep. Barnes jumped into the back while Fury signaled a nearby SUV to pull up. Maria Hill rolled down the driver's window and gave Clint a small salute.

"So Iowa?" She called to the group.

"Iowa it is," Clint nodded and allowed her to lead the way to the airport. His stomach felt uneasy as they pulled onto the highway. Natasha and James exchanged a few words so he was able to keep his attention on the road.

He hadn't been back since Laura and the kids were taken from him. He sought his revenge but it still didn't heal the broken wounds inside. No matter how much he tried to hide, no matter how many years had passed, the attack was still fresh in his mind. HYDRA would never back down. No matter what they did, they couldn't be defeated.

Even more so, HYDRA managed to become even more personal. They managed to hurt him even more, to damage the small family he'd managed to create around him.

"_Clint_," Natasha's voice brought him back to reality. "It's going to be ok."

He hadn't realized that he was gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. He pulled a hand into his lap and nodded.

They wouldn't get to Dana. They couldn't get to her. Out of every member of the team he knew Steve would do his best to protect Dana against HYDRA. There was no way that the man who'd dedicated his life to fighting the organization would be a mole for them.

Though he had trusted people recklessly in the past.

Clint just hoped he'd learned from his mistakes.

(-)

Author's Note: Short! I knowwww! I promise I'll make it up next time. Thank you for reading! There are probably a million different errors I overlooked because I wanted to get this up before the end of the night, I'm sorry!


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: I'm going on vacation again in a day so I wanted to double up on updates before I left. Enjoy!

(-)

_Daddy can you hear the devil drawing near? Like a bullet from a gun, run daddy run._

(-)

When the group landed outside of a broken down farmhouse, Dana was the first to climb out of the plane. She wanted an opportunity to observe the area without having to listen to the others chat about strategy. Steve had given her a bow and some arrows, just in case, and in Dana's opinion it was all she needed.

She disappeared down a hill toward the front door of the home. The farm had a very familiar air about it. Her father parked the tractor in the same position he parked the newer one in Alaska, right outside of the barn where it was beginning to accumulate a pile of snow.

The front door was the same color, a faded copper red, and an identical mailbox hung off of the front porch. Dana felt like she'd stepped into a parallel universe. How easily could she have become one of her father's other children?

She shook her head of the thought. The other children… they were her _siblings_.

As she walked around the outside of the farm she couldn't help but wonder why Chris would share this information with her. Was he trying to get her angry? Perhaps there was a small part of her that felt betrayed by her family secrets, but ultimately she understood. The file had been fairly clear on the gruesome manner that Laura and the kids had met their fate.

Dana stepped through the snow toward the front door and dusted a small pile of flakes off of the handle. Without too much trouble, the door budged open and Dana stepped inside the chilled farmhouse.

It was eerie. Rotting children's drawings hung from the walls, the dining room table was set for a dinner that was decades too late, and clothes were piled on the sofa, waiting to be folded, but frozen in place from the elements.

It was difficult to picture her father living here, caring for a family and coming home late to dinner. She'd always assumed he'd lived in the Northwest, hunting and gathering until he met her mother.

He had a whole other life before Dana. He was hero, a father, and an Avenger.

Dana could hear the whispered voices of Steve and Sam on the porch talking protection of the house while she was inside. Dana ignored them and pressed up the wooden staircase to the second floor. Though she was careful with her footing, one of the middle steps broke under her. She caught herself before she fell through.

"Everything ok?" Sam called and she gave a grunt in response.

"I'm fine!" she huffed in clarification and pulled herself up to the next step. Thankfully the rest of the stairway was significantly more stable. When she found herself upstairs she began looking into each of the bedrooms. It was easy to tell which one belonged to the baby, Nathan. The walls were covered in fading pictures of circus animals and bright colors.

A small crib was positioned against the wall. Dana peered over the edge and pulled a stuffed elephant out of the bedding. It was older than she was, its legs were cracked and the fur long matted by the seasons it'd been left unattended, alone in the cold room.

She tucked the stuffed animal into her backpack and continued her way through the home. She stopped in the shared bedroom of the other two children and found a pile of drawings on a small desk. There was a ballerina, a fireman, a spaceship… Dana felt her throat tighten at a family portrait.

A mother and father, the mother holding the baby and the two kids, at the top, poorly written, were the words "My Family". Dana hadn't even noticed the tears flowing until a stray one hit the picture of the ballerina. She quickly wiped at her cheeks and folded the family photo into her backpack with the elephant.

The final room was the one she dreaded the most. It was just past a shared bathroom toward the back of the house. There was a king sized bed and a few photos that lined the dresser at its foot. Dana couldn't muster the strength to study the photos and turned each one face down as she passed by.

She sat down on the bed and studied the room around her. How many nights had they spent in this room? Did the kids crawl into bed with Laura and her father during storms like she did as a child?

To her misery, there was a picture of Laura and a much younger Clint sitting on the bedside table, Dana picked it up with shaking hands and looked over the woman's features. She seemed so happy, so at peace.

Though Dana was sure she couldn't have approved of her father's lifestyle choices, who would have? He spent his time risking his life for others. A small noise in the doorway made Dana flinch and drop the picture to the floor. It shattered into small pieces and without a second thought she leapt forward to salvage the photograph.

"Here let me help," a male voice said calmly from behind her. Dana froze. A familiar hand reached past her and picked the frame off of the ground. He chuckled. "What have I told you about steady hands kiddo?"

Dana didn't have words. She whirled around and dove into her dad's open arms.

"I'm so mad at you," she grumbled as her dad pulled her into a hug. "Like seriously so mad. But I'm really glad you're not dead."

"Likewise," he murmured. The pair stood in the master bedroom for what seemed like forever before he broke the hug and glanced around the room.

"What is it?" Dana asked uneasily. Her father motioned for her to get down and to hand him her bow and quiver. Dana quickly obliged and waited for further instruction.

"You heard it too?" a female voice joined the pair in the bedroom. She was bundled tightly in black clothing, from her boots to her gloves. The woman reached for her hip and pulled out a small pistol. She took a position next to Clint silently and watched the landscape.

Dana knew exactly who this woman was. Black Widow. Natasha Romanoff.

Her mother.

"Dana, when I say run, you find the others and get out of here," Clint ordered quietly.

"No offense, but I'm not leaving without you," Dana whispered in response.

"Dana you need to trust me," Clint tried to reason. Dana scowled and shook her head.

"I'm not losing you again," Dana insisted stubbornly. "I can take care of myself, granted you have my bow-mmf." The woman's hand shot out and blocked Dana's mouth.

Dana immediately silenced and peered over the ledge they were staring out of intently.

There was a group of mask HYDRA agents making their way toward the farmhouse.

"Steve and the others?" Dana whispered to Natasha. The older spy pointed down.

They were inside the house.

The HYDRA agents had no idea what was coming their way.

"Let me help," Dana suddenly insisted looking to her father. He exchanged a quick glance with Natasha before nodding in the direction of the closet. They didn't have much to lose at this point. Dana crept over, careful to avoid casting shadows in the windowpane.

Dana dug through the contents of the safe before finding a safe embedded in the back.

"65, 92, 72," Clint muttered, he tightened his pull on the arrow and waited for the perfect opportunity to begin the attack.

The dial on the safe was rusted, which came as no surprise to Dana, but she managed to get it spinning and soon enough the safe opened.

Inside, perfectly preserved, was an older variation of her father's combat bow. There was a small quiver of arrows mounted next to it that Dana grabbed as well.

She took a position next to Natasha and her father, nocking an arrow back and waiting for further orders. It had to be quite the sight, she mused silently.

Before she had an opportunity to think further, a crash from below alerted them that the fight had begun. Steve charged out of the living room into the snow, bashing back the men who had tried to catch the group by surprise.

As if by instinct both Dana and her father loosed arrows at the nearest agents to the house. Two men were taken down simultaneously and her father beamed for an instant, before quickly loosing another arrow.

Natasha was firing careful shots toward any strays that managed to break the line Dana and her father had created with their arrows.

"Do you have your bites?" Clint asked Natasha while the pair exchanged pair with the agents on the ground.

"Thought you'd never ask," Natasha grinned and pulled down her coat sleeve, revealing menacing looking pieces of equipment. "Can you cover me?"

"I always do," he replied calmly. "Dana, northeast."

Dana looked back to the fight and loosed an arrow at the stray that had broken from their formation. Natasha had leapt from the window toward the balcony on the next floor. She slid down the roof and rolled onto the snow below.

By now, Falcon and The Scarlet Witch had joined the fight, each handling their own end of the house, protecting those inside.

"Dad," Dana suddenly stated. She'd reached for another arrow and was met with air. "We're out of ammo."

"I kept more downstairs," Clint replied quickly. He leapt to his feet and gesture Dana after him. "Stay alert. Remember when we went bear hunting?"

"Yeah…"

"These bears have guns," he merely replied and hurried down the stairs, leaping over the hole Dana had created with ease.

Dana kept pace the best she could. She allowed her father to scout the main floor before following him into the kitchen. In there, he kicked open a cabinet and pressed his hand on the metal that was revealed.

An extensive cache of weapons and arrows was quickly revealed.

"Can you fire a pistol?" he asked Dana as he handed off knives and another bundle of arrows.

"Point, aim, shoot?" Dana guessed with a shrug. "It's like a rifle but smaller?" Clint handed a small handgun to Dana.

"Don't use it unless you need to," he warned. "One day I'll give you better training, but I have a feeling you'll know what to do."

He tossed her a holster for her upper thigh and before Dana could say another word, they were ready for action.

"Stay by the front, but stay inside," Clint ordered quickly. He glanced over his shoulder to the back window of the room and frowned. "I'm going to help in back. _Do not leave this house_. Do you understand?"

"And what if it caves in?" Dana questioned sarcastically. The ice in her father's gaze was enough response. She'd stay put. "Got it."

This was Hawkeye; the man, the myth, the legend. Her father.

Gunfire erupted through a nearby window and Dana dove down, drawing an arrow back and peering through a hole small enough to loose it on a nearby HYDRA agent.

When Dana peered through the hole again, she noticed a large machine in the distance. It was crawling over the hilltop slowly, but that didn't take away from its dangerous appearance.

Armed agents covered the top of it, machine guns locked into place and what looked like a rocket launcher was attached to the front.

An eruption sounded from the back of the house that Dana was not prepared for.

Dana cursed out loud in surprise before rolling to her side to avoid gunfire.

They were getting closer.

"Dana?" Wanda was inside of the house now, she climbed through the wreckage that was now tossed around the living room.

"Kitchen!" Dana shouted over the chaos that now surrounded the farmhouse. She stood up slowly and fired an arrow past Wanda's head toward a masked man that nearly snuck up behind the Avenger. He dropped in the living room and Wanda made her way over to Dana's side.

"We're pulling out," Wanda explained. Another man entered the house and she twisted her wrist and sent him flying out a nearby window. "We're going to be taking a trail out back. Your father and the Winter Soldier will be covering us."

"We're _all_ going, right?" Dana questioned firmly. "I'm not losing them again."

"It's coming in two waves, but I have to get you out of here first," Wanda looked to the front door and nodded for Dana to follow after her. The young archer followed suit and hoped that the woman was being honest with her.

They emerged out of the house into a battlefield. Avenger versus HYDRA. Good versus evil. Black and white. And blood. There was a lot of red spilled across the white snow.

A crack in the sky made Dana jump, but Wanda and the rest of the team looked unsurprised. Light poured down and a figure began to emerge, blonde hair and a flowing red cape.

"Right on time," Wanda murmured and ushered Dana out of the scene while their enemies were distracted by the appearance of the Asgardian.

Footfalls behind Dana made her check over her shoulder and she saw her father with another dark haired man following behind.

The group soon disappeared into the cover the hills.

"There's an extraction ready in a few hundred feet," Wanda explained to Dana. They continued their hike until they found a small jet hidden in a valley.

The engines were already running when the pilot, a SHIELD agent, ushered the group into the open bay door.

Before the team had an opportunity to board, the plane was engulfed in flames. Dana knew chemical reactions and she knew jet fuel and fire…

The eruption sent the team flying through the air. Dana landed back first on a nearby tree and slid down its trunk, attempting to catch a breath of air.

Wheezing she fell to her side and tried to find a patch of air that wasn't covered in smoke.

"I'm glad you're in one piece," Chris Stark's armored suit knelt down next to her. He lowered the mask, revealing his face. "Bossman would have _killed_ me. Quite literally."

"Chris… the others…" Dana mustered through her coughing fits.

"They'll live, maybe," he sighed. "If they do… that won't be very fun for you… Ah well… Carpe diem and whatnot…" A panel on his arm popped open revealing a small syringe. Without too much effort he injected it into her neck. "Time to go save the day. See you soon." He gave Dana a small peck on the cheek and flew toward the main fight.

Dana's vision began to swim. Somewhere, someone was calling her name but she couldn't recognize a face or place a name. Every inch of her muscle tissue burned in pain and she began to writhe in the snow.

A drug? Her mind began to run through the possibilities. She'd studied venoms, poisons and a number of drugs during her time on her reach paper. This was something else entirely.

She tried to pull herself up, but the ground kept spinning under her and she tumbled to the ground.

(-)

A piercing evil shot through Wanda's mind and she began to frantically search for the others. Clint was gathering his bearings and searching for Dana, while James was adjusting his arm and beginning to regain his balance.

The only member of the team that hadn't been accounted for was the youngest.

"Dana!" Clint shouted through the smoke. Wanda could sense he feared the worst; he began circling around the wreckage and charged in the direction where he heard a small shout of pain.

James and Wanda quickly followed behind, in case there were more attackers.

"Dana…" Clint slid to the ground next to his daughter, while she looked physically sound, her forehead was beaded in sweat, her hands shook and her body swayed.

James slowly ushered forward to study the young woman carefully.

"_Barton_," he warned in a low voice. "You and Wanda need to get out of here."

Clint kept his attention focused on Dana. He patted her head and tried to comfort her as she let out small cries of pain.

"Barton. You're a target. Wanda is a target," James repeated. "I don't know how long you have to get out of here."

"Who did this?" Clint finally snapped. Wanda frowned at the sudden outburst of emotion.

"They needed the USBs," James replied quietly. "The formula."

"What is going on?" Wanda looked from man to man, demanding an answer.

"Blackhawk has been activated," James merely replied. Wanda didn't need further explanation as she dug through James' thoughts.

"Who did this?" Clint repeated.

"I imagine someone with access at the tower?" Wanda replied quietly. "Anyone… except us. We were all together until we found her. Unless someone has something to share." She didn't even need to scan their thoughts to know they'd both lost something. Clint lost his daughter and James lost his edge to HYDRA.

"You two need to leave," James insisted once again. "I'll move her somewhere safe, keep her out of their hands. You two need to find the mole and get as much information as possible."

"We need to reverse this," Clint's voice broke.

"You need to be alive to do that," James reminded him. "Get back to the house, inform Fury and keep your head down. It could be _anyone_. They might not even realize it."

"Or maybe they do," Wanda suddenly added. "There was… a lot of anger and hate after the explosion." She mentally cursed herself for not being able to place the source of the emotion. "That might make it easier."

"You keep her safe," Clint's tone almost came out as a growl. He gave Dana a soft kiss on the forehead. "_Go_."

James Barnes moved instantly and grabbed Dana off of the ground.

If anyone could keep Dana under control during all of this it would be the Winter Soldier; Wanda was sure of it.

(-)

Author's Note: Hurray! A double update in a week! Let me know what you think so far! Thank you for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Hurray! Lots of updates this week! I'm finally defeating my writer's block, so hopefully I can get as much as possible up before school starts. Enjoy!

(-)

_Welcome to your life. There's no turning back. Even while you sleep, you will find you acting on your best behavior. Turn your back on Mother Nature. Everybody wants to rule the world. _

(-)

The girl's breathing was shallow, but she'd stopped shaking a few hours previously; something that James was eternally thankful for. He had no idea what to completely expect once she came in contact with the serum, but he had his guesses.

Her muscle tissue was changing along with elements of her neurology. The plan had been to show her a normal life and if the serum came in contact with her, she'd show weakness and remorse for friends and family. However, if his previous experiences with HYDRA provided him with any insight, memories couldn't always be protected.

He leaned back in his armchair and kept his eyes on her sleeping form on the sofa. He'd created a safe house in New York a few years previously in case things got bad and he needed to lay low for a while. No one, not even Steve, knew of its location and he was careful to keep it that way. He kept it furnished in case a noisy landlord decided to peek their head in, but he hardly put any effort into its decoration aside from the necessities.

Dana let out a small grumble and shifted slightly, the sofa creaking with her movement.

She'd be awake soon and James was utterly unprepared for what would happen after that point. He disarmed her and hid most of the weapons in the apartment in case she woke up fighting, but there was always the possibility she'd awake with a completely distorted worldview and be relatively harmless until an opportunity arose.

"…" Dana rolled again and began to slowly open her eyes; her grey iris' shot around the room while she took in her location. Finally they fell on James' form in the armchair.

"I'd suggest drinking some water," he merely commented with a light gesture at a side table with an untouched glass of water. "You'll feel better."

Dana slowly sat up, her suspicious gaze never leaving James while she reached for the water.

"How are you feeling?" he asked when she took a small sip of the beverage.

"Where am I?" she responded instead. She set the water on the table, her eyes continuing to lock onto James. Her grey gaze was cold and dangerous.

"New York City," he offered, knowing better that small answers and questions would be better than a full-blown meltdown. "Do you know why you're here?"

"No," she stated after a moment of hesitation. James wasn't sure if she was calculating her next move or genuinely confused at the scene. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"I do."

"I see," she lifted her hand from her side and flexed it.

"Do you know who you are?" he pressed quietly. She paused and nodded.

"Dana Barton. Born and raised outside of Fort Yukon, Alaska," she lifted her other hand and flexed it as well.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

James nodded in understanding; he knew the surreal experience of waking up from such an ordeal. The experiments during the war and following his time in HYDRA made him sensitive to any subtle changes in his body over the years. Thankfully a heightened metabolism kept any effects of disease or change at bay.

"Where were you before you woke up?"

"…" She hummed to herself and frowned. "How can I trust you?"

"You can't," he replied coolly and reached at his side and pulled a small firearm out. He set it on the coffee table in front of Dana and leaned back in his chair. "But I trust you."

It was partially true, she hadn't completely snapped and seemed semi-cognizant about the world around her. He'd have to get more information to see where her memory was at, as well as what physical effects the serum may have had on her.

"Why?"

"We're a lot alike."

"I don't know if I believe that," she studied his metal arm wearily. "Where did you come from?"

"Brooklyn," he admitted. "After that, Germany, Russia, China for a time, and now Brooklyn."

"I was with a friend in the city before this," she took another small sip of water. "He gave me something to read."

"What did he give you?"

"What does it matter?" her voice raised slightly in defense. Something was triggered in the question.

"I suppose it doesn't."

"Why am I here?"

"I took you away from your family and friends to protect them," James replied without flinching. He figured the truth would be the best way to handle this ordeal.

"My family?" Dana's hand shook and she set her water down.

"And the Avengers," James added. He leaned forward once again, ready to jump on the handgun if need be. She darted her eyes back to his and she squeezed the cushion of the sofa.

"Wouldn't you need protection as well?" She asked and before James had an opportunity to dart for the gun, she snatched it off of the table, locked a bullet into place and pointed it at him. She was fast, he noted, almost as fast as Natasha in the field. "I'm going to have to ask you a small favor."

"And what would that be?" James relaxed his body and let Dana circle the room toward the front door of the apartment.

"I need transportation, please," she lowered the gun and caught a set of keys that James tossed in her direction.

"Where are you going?" He asked with amusement, slowly standing from his position. He scanned Dana over and noted the way she held the weapon. She didn't have as much experience with a firearm as she did with the bow and arrow, that much was clear to him. However, he knew any shot she'd make would hit its mark.

"…"

"You have no idea, do you?"

"I could just kill you," Dana raised her weapon again and aimed it for his head. "You're wasting my time."

"Tell me about the things your friend gave you to read," James changed the subject quickly. She kept her attention fixed on her weapon and the area around her. He wasn't going to be able to disarm her as quickly as he'd hoped.

"Excuse me?"

"You said your friend gave you some things to read before you got here."

She fired her weapon toward James' leg, but he leapt out of the way and tackled the younger woman to the ground. They wrestled for the handgun and she dug the heel of her foot into his side.

He flipped her and hit the inside of her elbow where she was clutching the weapon. She shouted in pain and dropped the gun on the floor. He scooped it up, and pointed it at her.

"What is your mission?" James locked another bullet into place to emphasize his point.

"My mission is none of your business!" she snarled and kicked the glass of water off of the table toward his face. She jumped up and wrapped her arm around his neck, an attempt to knock him out. "I'm picking up where you failed, Winter Soldier."

James used his metal arm to pull the redhead off of him and tossed her toward the other end of the room. He had to be careful, Clint would probably toss him off of the side of a building if any harm came to Dana.

Groaning, Dana rolled to her side and held her arm. She'd landed completely wrong. Her lip was bleeding and James was certain more than a few bruises were hidden under her tee shirt.

"Is that your trigger word? Avengers?" he asked leering over the girl. She used her good arm to scoot herself away from him until she hit the back wall of the apartment. "Iron Man? Captain America?"

"I don't know these people!" Dana shouted in response.

"What about your father? You know him, Clint Barton?"

"Stop it!"

"Black Widow?"

"Please stop!" Dana was shaking; her hand went to her head where sweat was beginning to form small beads. She struggled to her feet and sought an escape. James had to admit, the girl looked like a trapped wild animal.

"State your mission," James demanded, his voice booming off of the small apartment's wall.

"Please…" she was moving slowly to the side, away from him.

"State your mission," he repeated. He hated pulling this on such an unstable individual but he knew from previous experience that such demands usually pulled what his handlers wanted from him.

"Operation Blackhawk, terminate any and all threats to HYDRA's mission of world peace," Dana suddenly stated. Her eyes misted over and began to shut, she swayed to the side and James caught her before she hit the wood floor of the apartment again.

Duel personalities, he thought to himself while he settled Dana into the master bedroom. He stripped back an appropriate amount of clothing and began mending her wounds. She was stronger than her form would suggest, the injuries she'd suffered would have taken any other human down in minutes.

She needed to avoid any mention of the Avengers, and perhaps other organizations. SHIELD was sure to trigger the response he'd seen tonight as well.

Once he'd set her broken arm, he tossed a blanket over her and double-checked the security of the room. No one would be able to get in or out. He flipped the light off and locked the bedroom door from the outside. He didn't want to be ambushed by her while he was trying to figure out his next step.

(-)

Steve felt personally accountable for what had happened to Dana. While Clint hadn't given too many specifics, he knew that HYDRA was on the winning side of the battle and Steve did not like that. He felt like he could have done so much more, he shouldn't have let her out of his sight.

There was also a traitor amongst the members of the team and he had no idea where some of their loyalties would lie.

Tony and Bruce had a very special interest in Dana and her origins on a molecular level. Perhaps they were feeding information to a third party that reported to HYDRA?

How easily could Wanda have slipped away from Bucky and Clint to get to Dana and hand her over to HYDRA? Did old HYDRA alliances come up?

Thor had been gone for some time with Jane, what kind of work was she doing? He'd insisted it was confidential, but Steve knew those words meant government secrets and projects.

Any of the Avengers could have set the young Barton aside for their own agenda. The team certainly had a number of them.

Hell, Nick could have tossed her aside in exchange for Romanoff. Nat hadn't been around in decades and she certainly didn't have the relationship Clint had with Dana. The only person in Steve's opinion that was in the clear was the older archer.

Clint was taking the loss terribly. He had barely spoken a word since his conversation with Steve during the ride back to the tower.

"So anyone care to tell me where Dana went?" Chris asked while his suit was being pulled away. "Because it kind of seems like we're trading the Barton's back and forth with HYDRA."

"They took her," Steve clarified for Chris. Only Clint, Wanda and Steve knew of Dana's true location. Any other member of the group who found out would point to any of the three as the traitor; meanwhile they would be able to work their way through the Avengers until the mole revealed themselves. "HYDRA captured Dana in the hillside and we're going to be getting her back."

"Are you sure?" Chris questioned with his brow furrowed in thought. "She kind of just disappeared after the explosion right? I thought HYDRA forces were surrounding the farmhouse."

"It's the only lead we have right now," Steve replied sternly. "Which is why we should get to work immediately. There's obviously some uprising of HYDRA that we'd ignored for far too long. We will take them out and find Dana."

The team murmured in agreement before splitting up and beginning their preparations. This left Clint and Steve in the meeting room.

"We will figure this out," Steve walked behind the archer and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You have my word."

With that, Steve turned and took his leave of the room.

It was time to break down the members of the team.

(-)

"So HYDRA definitely does not have the asset," Chris muttered to himself while he propped himself up against the toilet in his suite bathroom, his laptop in hand. It was the only place without JARVIS, FRIDAY, or any other level of security in the tower. He typed across his databases and scanned once again for the tracking device he'd implanted with the serum.

It wouldn't have gone active unless the Blackhawk mission was activated, so he'd have to be patient. That could take weeks, or even months if she wasn't properly exposed.

A small dot appeared on a map and he grinned. Maybe he didn't need to wait.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed an encrypted phone call.

"I found her," he simply stated. "I'll take care of it myself, but please send a STRIKE team to Brooklyn, just in case."


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: Well this took longer than I'd thought. Though, I am working on a few additional fics! Namely a StevexOC one that I'd like to get up once I have a few more chapters typed up! Enjoy!

(-)

_And the unfaithful sun went to burn to all-alone, just to love, just for love, just for plain simple love. Heed my warning my darling, don__'__t let the twilight drown._

(-)

Natasha had been avoiding Bruce since she'd arrived at the tower. There were skeletons that she wasn't quite ready to handle, and that situation was number one on her list.

Instead she became re-acclimated with the tower, and settled back into her previous routine with the team. She dyed her hair back to its original fiery red from the faded brown she'd worn at HYDRA. She also worked out in the training facility as often as she could.

She knew a battle was coming, but she didn't know when or where it would take place. Clint hadn't told her where Dana had disappeared to, so she had to believe the story that Steve had told the rest of the team following their return.

However, she and a number of other people knew there were holes. Bucky hadn't returned with the rest of the team, a fact that Steve and Clint had chalked up to HYDRA reclaiming their original asset as well. But Natasha knew better. She knew how to read Clint and she knew Steve was a terrible liar.

The pair had to be together. Clint wouldn't have let Dana be taken so easily from his side, she was his weakness and she knew he would do everything in his power to protect her. If he trusted James, however, that would be a completely separate story.

She knew that each member of the team was looking for the mole, but she couldn't help but wonder if Clint's sudden distrust of her had to do with her time in HYDRA. During her workouts she often wondered if she was in fact, the mole without realizing it.

Natasha brought her leg up and sent a kick into a punching bag. It went flying across the room and she stopped to wipe sweat off of her forehead.

"Hey."

Natasha turned to the source of the greeting and inwardly reeled.

"Hello Bruce," she responded calmly. This certainly wasn't how she wanted to approach him.

"So you're still just as terrifying as before," he chuckled looking past her at the broken punching bag.

"And you're just as corny as I left you," Natasha commented while she pulled her hand wraps off. "How have you been, Bruce?"

"Well aside from being convinced you were dead for the last two decades, I've been doing relatively well," he sat down on a bench in the training area and watched Natasha grab a towel off on a hook and wipe her head down. So he was just going to cut to the chase. Wonderful, she thought bitterly.

"I didn't have much of a choice, things got ugly and I had to lay low," she explained.

"If I had a clone running around, I suppose I'd do the same thing," he pressed narrowing his gaze. He knew about Dana's origins, Natasha wondered what else her old friend might be able to reveal to her.

"Don't be passive aggressive," Natasha said with a frown. She sat down across from Bruce and watched his next reaction. "If you have something to say, say it."

"Why didn't you tell me what you were planning on doing?" he snapped sharply. "I could have helped. I could have done something."

Natasha weighed the words carefully.

"And if I died while undercover? I figured it'd be best to hurt everyone at once," she replied.

"You're very good at that, aren't you?"

"I'm not the one who fled after Ultron," she hissed. It was a low blow and Natasha knew it, but he was playing dirty as well. "What on earth do you think you could have done if you'd known I was alive? You'd raise questions eventually."

Bruce paused and shook his head.

"I could have helped you with whatever Dana is, we could have hidden, we could have helped Clint," he sighed. "I was already prepared to leave all of this with you. We could have left all of this after Clint disappeared, but you had to finish up one last mission. In his honor, you'd said."

"And I did, it just took some time," Natasha retorted. "You should be careful. You're getting a little angry."

Bruce's eyes flashed in fury.

"If I was angry, you would damn well know it," he snarled before standing up and storming toward the door. "We're not finished."

The skeletons were a tad more bitter than Natasha had given them credit for.

Go figure.

(-)

She was hiding with the Winter Soldier. Chris grinned to himself while his team drove to the address he'd provided. Two assets in one. They would just need to wipe them both and HYDRA would be just as powerful as it had been in its heyday.

They would finally be able to bring the peace and change that Chris sought so desperately.

"Sir, we're here," the driver murmured to Chris and the other passengers in the black SUV. His superiors at HYDRA had taken his call very seriously. They'd brought in Crossbones from retirement and a number of former STRIKE team members.

They were HYDRA loyal and SHIELD trained, and Chris couldn't picture a better extraction team.

"You know the plan," Chris opened the door to the SUV and slammed it loudly. "Non-lethals, get them both if you can, but retrieve Blackhawk at all costs."

The neighborhood was tucked away in a quiet part of New York, so Chris was positive the noise would alert Barnes to their presence.

Armed team members flanked their leader and he pulled a mask over his face. He didn't need Barnes alerting the Avengers of the wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Rumlow, take alpha, move into the apartment from above, I'll move in from below with beta," Chris attached a weapons gauntlet to his arm and loaded a handful of sedatives into a gun. "Extract, do not kill Blackhawk."

"Understood," the team replied before dividing up and making their way into the apartment building.

When Chris was left alone, he grabbed a duffle bag from the back seat of the SUV and dug through it. He had been working with the scientists at HYDRA for months to perfect memory suppressing drugs. It was significantly more civil than the methods they'd used with the first asset, and they didn't even need to freeze Blackhawk between missions. It was amazing what two decades of research could provide.

(—-)

"They'll kill you," Dana barely stirred while James searched the room for an extra bag. "You know that, don't you?"

"I do," James replied without looking up from his search.

"And yet you're going to run?" James could sense her gaze locked onto his back.

"I made a promise."

"No promise is worth that," she sighed. "We both know what's going to end up happening. We run, you die. I stay, you die. They catch me, I'm the one who makes you die."

"You'd kill me?" he asked, turning around. His hand was grasped around a knife he'd pulled from a hiding spot in the room.

"I tried to earlier, didn't I?" she asked, still laying on her side.

"You did," he admitted. "But I'm still alive, and if you're the worse they can throw at me, I think we'll be ok."

"You know why I held back."

"I have my hunches."

"I'm not supposed to remember myself," her voice cracked slightly. "I mean, there are parts I don't but… I shouldn't know who I am. I keep fighting it, something keeps trying to smoother what's left out."

James remained silent. This was Dana, not Blackhawk speaking. Yet she had so much knowledge of those who hunted them.

"Do you even know who's outside the building?" he finally asked the girl.

"My guess is HYDRA, judging from your response," she replied. "And judging from the misguided loyalty that's telling me to disarm you and join them."

"They seriously did a number on you," James commented lightly before tossing a duffle bag onto the bed. "It's your choice if you want to go with them or not. Just know that if you go with them, more people will die when I get you back."

"It's a hell of a promise you've made."

"You have no idea," he sighed and disappeared into the next room. He found Dana's boots from earlier and tossed them into the bedroom.

When he returned, he found her sitting on the edge of the bed. Her wounds had healed much faster than he would have expected, though with HYDRA there were always surprises.

"Do you have a bow?" she asked quietly and leaned down to pull her boot on.

"I do," he nodded. "Are you going to kill me?"

"I don't think so," she frowned. "I can't make any promises though."

Every instinct inside of James demanded he leave the young woman unarmed. It would create less of an issue for him while he planned their escape, and yet he found himself handing a compound bow to her.

She could turn at any moment and they both knew it. Dana Barton was struggling with the reality of who she was and adjusting to the strange new body she found herself in. It took James decades to cope, and yet he was trusting her to do it in a few hours.

When she zipped her jacket up and threw her quiver over her shoulder she looked at James.

"If anything happens, tell my father I went down fighting."

James was taken aback by the statement. Any mention of Clint or the Avengers earlier in the night had resulted in a panicked state, yet she stood waiting for further instruction.

"You can tell him yourself, soon enough," he promised.

For the second time in the last 72 hours, he'd made a promise to a Barton he'd fight to the end to keep.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: I've been working with a friend to really get the most out of my writing. I've noticed I've gotten lazy over the last few chapters with details. Hopefully you all enjoy!

I'd love to hear what you think!

(-)

_I've lived my life, becoming invisible. It's hard to maintain, and it's hard to get by. _

(-)

"Dana?"

Dana Barton had crawled out of a manhole toward the end of the street James' apartment was on. He'd told her to take a separate route to him so he could handle anyone who'd be following them. He'd promised to meet her in the alleyway nearby so they could slip away.

When she initially emerged, she'd found the street completely abandoned aside from a lone van and a man toward the end of the road.

He hurried toward her and she took a step back, her fingertips dancing over the knife in her pocket. He was wearing a thick ski mask, and Dana could not tell if he was friend of foe. She was ready to go for the carotid.

Sensing her suspicion and the tension growing between the pair, the man chuckled, his hand going for his face.

"It's me," the man pulled his mask up and gave her a reassuring smile. The man's face came back to her in flashes. She knew him. For the first time all night, Dana remembered.

"_Chris_," she breathed, her hand dropping away from the weapon. She was relieved to know there was still hope. Though parts of her mind reminded her she could shift at any time. Friend or not, he could potentially

"What is going on? Are you ok? I've been looking for you everywhere," he took a step toward her and rested his hand on her shoulder. Dana pulled away and stepped back slightly, startled by the sudden gesture. Were they _that_ close?

Images of a dinner flashed across her mind. Fine dining. Chris was sitting nervously across from her.

"I'm fine, I think," she replied slowly. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous…"

"Dana I'm here to save you!" he exclaimed. He frowned and shook his head. "That guy is going to hurt you. He took you away from everyone."

Chris didn't know what had happened. He didn't know she was a threat to him.

"No," Dana shook her head. "He's good. My dad trusts him."

"Dana, your dad has lied to you already," Chris offered a hand for the now confused woman. "Please, I'm here to help you. I'll get you back to the Tower and we can make sure you're safe."

Dana felt a pulse in her head and stumbled back.

"I wouldn't be safe with _them_," she stated. Her mind flew to images of chaos and destruction, aliens swarming a city and villains exacting revenge in the teams' name. She gripped the wall of a nearby building to hold her balance.

"Then you can be safe with _me_," Chris was at her side. He reached forward and moved a piece of hair that'd fallen in her face. "You know, I worry about you."

"I'm fine!" Dana pushed his hand away and leapt up. "Chris… you need to get out of here. There are people who'll hurt you.

"Dana," he started and sighed. "No one is going to hurt me. I'm a good guy, remember? You know me, and I know what I'm doing. This guy? He's lying to you. He's trying to use you."

"No," Dana stated firmly. "_HYDRA_ is trying to use me."

"Is that what your _friend_ told you?" Chris crossed his arms. Dana didn't understand where the hostile behavior was coming from. Sure, Chris had a habit of addressing things in the most infuriating manner possible, but this was over the top. "Do you even know who you're supposed to be running from?"

"It doesn't matter," Dana insisted. Regardless of whether Chris was right, she needed to stay away from anyone who she could potentially hurt. If that meant sticking with James for the time, so be it. She had already seen what she could do to a stranger she had no alliances to, she'd hate to see what she'd do to "good guy" Chris.

"I think it does."

"Chris, _please_, you need to leave," she said as sharply as she could. He stood his ground and ignored Dana's pleas. "I don't want to lose anyone I care about."

That was a truth. She didn't want him to be hurt by her, James or any of the HYDRA agents. She didn't know who the enemy, or even if she was possibly the enemy as James had said.

It was incredibly confusing, and any time Dana thought about it, her head ached, and her world spun.

"Then do me a favor," he finally said reaching in his pocket and handing Dana a business card. "Go to this address at midnight tomorrow."

She took the card and quickly scanned it over. It seemed normal enough. There was an address and a name. Janet Welch. "Why?" she questioned. She wanted to get Chris out as quickly as possible, before anything happened. Before she happened…

"Just trust me, I want to keep you safe," he smiled. "I'd never do anything to hurt you. You know that."

With that, he was gone. He seemed so calm running into her. Had her father told him she was there? Did her father even know Chris? Did she even know her father? When she thought about it, she couldn't remember her father's name to save her life.

Dana ducked into the shadows of the alleyway and waited for James to join her. She knelt toward the ground and studied the card. Chris wanted to meet at midnight. It was cryptic, it was secretive, and Dana was frustrated beyond belief. If he was working with HYDRA, there was a chance he was trying to separate her and James.

She weighed her options, wondering ways she'd be able to escape James' notice for an hour or so the next evening. She felt crazy for even considering Chris' option. He was with those who sought her out. But was he right in that HYDRA wanted to protect her?

Or had he gone undercover to protect her? Was HYDRA still evil?

Of course, Dana reminded herself, James had gone through all of this before. She knew him as the Winter Soldier, despite never having met him before. He of all people would know how to guide her through things.

While Dana weighed each thought, she felt a hand touch the top of her shoulder.

Her hand shot to her side and she twirled a knife toward the throat of whoever had joined her.

The man slowly pushed her knife down with a familiar metal hand.

"We need to move," he simply said. James. Of course. She tucked her weapon away and waited for him to elaborate on what he had found. He led the way down the alley, gesturing for her to follow behind quietly.

"They sent two teams in," he explained while they snaked their way through the alleys. Piles of trash coated the ground and the occasional stray cat jumped from trash can to trash can seeking out dinner for the evening. "Crossbones was also there, which means this is getting serious."

"Crossbones?"

"I was certain he had died years ago, but apparently he just retired," James clarified without stopping the speed he moved. The way he spoke sent a chill down Dana's spine. He had a history with this man.

"What happened?" Dana asked. His body language shifted subtly enough to indicate she'd hit a nerve.

"It's a long story and we don't have time to dwell on the past," he replied, quickly changing the subject. While it didn't provide Dana with the answers she sought, she'd learned that this was James' style of communication. He's avoid anything if it didn't have anything to do with the mission at hand.

Suddenly James came to an abrupt stop. His blue gaze scanned the worn wall in front of them, searching for something specific.

He felt around the wall of the alley before finding a loose brick and pushing it in. He led Dana back a few feet before the ground began to sink.

"Your secret lair?" Dana joked, but was met with a cold stare from the Winter Soldier.

He gestured her inside and she quietly followed suit. There was a long metal stairway that led quite a few feet under ground. She started down it, pausing to allow James to turn on a flashlight to lead the way.

"I avoided HYDRA for five years using old prohibition tunnels throughout the city," he finally spoke after the pair had walked for a few moments in silence.

"They never caught on?"

"_Never_," Dana was almost certain she saw a smirk playing across his features, but chalked it up to the tunnel playing light tricks. The Winter Soldier had to be physically incapable of showing emotion, let alone a smile.

"They gave up after a while, didn't they?"

"They did," he confirmed. "They wanted me to patch the gap until you were suitable for training."

"But you avoided them…" Dana was trying to piece together James' story. For someone she insisted she trusted, she hardly knew anything aside from the fact he was the killer who had preceded her. She wanted to prove Chris wrong, so she fished for as much information as possible.

"They wanted to take my memories away," he added. "I was wiped after each mission and I wasn't prepared to let it happen again."

That struck a chord with Dana. While the methods they'd used were different, both of them had been undone. They'd been torn apart in order to be reconstructed in the organizations' image.

"It's hard knowing something is there but you can't get to it," Dana muttered.

She could picture her father's face, but his name was a blur. She could remember her childhood home, but how she ended up in New York was a complete mystery to her. She had images of a college but couldn't name it or it's location.

The worst part was that it was fading, and she knew once it was gone she'd lose control of herself. She'd lose Dana.

(—-)

He knew there was no way to reassure her that things would wrap up with a happy ending. Partially because neither of them knew what would happen next. In fact, James wasn't even sure where they'd be able to hide for the time being.

He was fairly certain she had some sort of tracer on or in her, and that would need to be removed as soon as possible. Unfortunately everyone he knew off hand who could remove it was a member of the Avengers.

Everyone except one man.

"Take a left," he ordered to Dana, who nodded in response and started down another dark pathway.

They continued down this path for a few minutes before Dana finally spoke up.

"Where are we going?"

"A colleague of mine," he replied cryptically. "He should be able to help us avoid HYDRA until we get your memories on track."

James didn't want to risk saying Scott Lang's name out loud, in case Dana knew he was a member of the Avengers in the past. He was working on a hunch, that because Scott had never publicly revealed himself, she'd only be focused on Ant Man. The name and the suit had been retired years previously, so she hopefully wouldn't associate the two.

"There should be a ladder," he pointed the flashlight up, and they started up a rusty ladder. James reached past Dana to push open a manhole above them.

"So _strong_," Dana joked lightly before crawling onto the street. James ignored the comment and made his way toward a large victorian house.

Scott had relocated to New York after joining the Avengers, it was easier for him and Hope to address the team, and Stark flew him in to see his daughter whenever he wanted throughout the years.

Though after years passed, Cassie had gotten her hands on the Pym particle and moved to New York in order to find herself as a hero. She's found success with a local group of young heroes and constantly was in the news as Stature.

"Wait over here," he pointed a few feet away from the front door, where a shrub blocked the view of the porch. "I need to make sure the area is secure. You have your knife?"

"I do," she replied. "Also I can take care of myself. I'm not a child."

James didn't respond and made his way to the front door. He gave it a few raps and looked down at his clothes. He hadn't realized his sweatshirt had been ripped in the tussle with Crossbones, or that he was matted with dirt and sweat from the tunnels.

"Bucky?" Scott answered the door after a few moments and looked him over. "Jesus, did you get in a fight with a construction worker? I hope you look better than he does."

"Crossbones is out of retirement," James quickly explained. "I need to ask you a favor. A lot has changed in the last few weeks. A HYDRA clone of Clint and Natasha has been activated and we need to keep her away from HYDRA so she doesn't kill all of the Avengers."

James paused, allowing Scott to digest the information.

"She's at the side of the house," James quickly added.

"So you came here? Is that really the best idea?" Scott looked into the house where Hope Van Dyne stood with her arms folded across her chest. She eyed James curiously.

"I don't think she knows who you are," James replied quietly. "At least your _other_ persona."

"Ah, so you actually came to see Scott Lang? I'm flattered, truly," he turned and gestured Hope to join him on the porch. "I don't know why you'd need my help though."

"I think there's a tracker on her, but I don't know where or how to get rid of it. After that, who knows if you'd be of any use."

"Ouch, Bucky, you hurt me. Though the tracker… That _is_ something I could help with…" Scott looked over at the shrub concealing the young woman. "Hope, _dearest_, is all of our Avengers equipment put away?"

The woman snorted at the title of endearment.

"Well, we had dinner with the neighbors last night, so I certainly hope it is," she shouted before ducking down a nearby hall. "Though I'll double check while you two conspire on our front porch."

"Dana," James called to his companion. She immediately appeared from behind the bush and made eye contact with Scott. James tensed, ready for a fight if anything ensued, but she remained calm.

"_Whoa_," Scott muttered under his breath to James. "That's what their clone would look like."

"This is Dana Barton," James introduced. "Dana, this is an old friend of mine, Scott Lang."

Again he waited for a reaction, but it seemed his theory had been right. Dana was calm, and remaining in control.

"Thank you for your help," Dana looked at Scott and mustered a small smile.

"Hey, any friend of Bucky is an acquaintance of mine," Scott grinned and ushered the group into the home.

(—-)

A/N: Next chapter we'll be tuning in with the Avengers and Clint to see what's going on!

Thanks for the support! (Also, I'll have a new story up soon. There's a Steve/OC in the works and possibly a Clint/OC. Maybe a Stucky or two…)


	14. Chapter 14

_Loving can hurt. Loving can hurt sometimes. But it's the only thing that I know. When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes, it is the only thing that makes us feel alive._

(-)

Clint spent the better part of most days alone in the shooting range. It was there he ran over every detail he knew about Dana's situation. He would replay conversations with his teammates in his head, noting any body language that would give them away as the mole. He'd think about Laura and how devastated she would be that their home was destroyed.

He'd think about how he spent the last 20 years thinking Nat was dead, and now she was only a few rooms over at any given moment.

He'd occasionally feel guilty for keeping information about Dana away from Nat, but would remind himself she'd started the secrets battle.

From time to time Steve would visit him and update him on any information Bucky may have passed along throughout the week.

Dana was safe. Though they never discussed locations, or who they could potentially be hiding out with, it was too dangerous. Even hypothesizing could prove deadly for Dana and Bucky.

"It's been what-?" Wanda Maximoff waved her hand as Clint loosed an arrow. The arrow dropped to the ground and Barton turned to glare at the intrusive guest. "Two weeks?"

"Something like that," he muttered. Clint set his bow on a nearby table and fixed his full attention to her. "Any news?"

Wanda paused thoughtfully and ran her hand over the bow carefully.

"This is new, isn't it?" she mused with a small smile.

"Tony insisted I 'get with the times'," Clint admitted, grimacing slightly. He wouldn't admit that he loved the weapon and how it adapted to his shooting style perfectly. Twenty years or not, Tony was unbearable when his ego was stroked.

"You never lost your touch," Wanda glanced at the targets at the end of the range. Each had a number of arrows perfectly aligned, in true Clint Barton style. Only the last one lacked any use, but only because of the super-human's tampering.

"Well, I had plenty of practice teaching my clone daughter my trade," he let out a dark laugh and sighed. "I really thought I had the 'normal' thing down pat. Granted I should have guessed anything involving Natasha would end in disaster."

"That's not very nice," Wanda lightly scolded, a smile playing on the edges of her face.

"But it's true and we both know it," he responded quickly. When he wasn't met with protest he returned to his previous question. "So do you have any news?"

"I do actually," she reached at her side and pulled out a small tablet. "Steve had Hill make these for our search. It gets us inside of everything in the tower and I think we have a suspect."

"Who?" Clint leaned over the device and waited for Wanda to pull up her evidence.

"Cap intercepted some HYDRA intelligence from a few weeks ago. Apparently there was an ambush on Bucky's safe house in the city," she explained. Her fingers tapped the screen and video footage, photocopied documents and other information came to life. "But that's not the interesting part..."

"The suspense is killing me… what's the interesting part?" Clint had a number of guesses as to who the mole was, ranging from a janitor on the third floor of the tower to Fury himself.

"What's interesting is who authorized the attack," she swept her finger to the left and in bold printed typeface was the name '_Stark'_.

Clint had to reread the name. Tony wouldn't sell their secrets.

But he also wouldn't have tried to smash Sokovia into the Earth to save the world…

(-)

Chris Stark had no allegiances. He had allies, but he granted them no loyalty. Since a very young age he'd found that life was more bearable when he placed himself first.

When he had his first science fair in elementary school, his father was accepting an award from the president. Even his mother had been called away for an emergency meeting for the business. Everyone else's parents celebrated their kids' participation with ice cream, but Chris sat at home, _alone_, with his first place ribbon that evening.

He'd only wanted to join the Avengers as a means of getting to know his father better. Chris wanted to understand the appeal the team had. He wanted to know why it stole his childhood and father away from him.

He had gotten an answer fairly quickly. Tony Stark was a broken man. A man who attempted to hide his insecurities with a large bravado and a metal suit. If mistakes were made, Tony blamed himself. He blamed his inventions, his suit, his decision in the field. He had this strange obligation to a world that wanted to reject everything he tried to bring about.

Perhaps that was the root of Chris and Tony's strained relationship; the last intelligent being that Tony had created nearly destroyed the world. Chris often thought that he was Tony's recompense for Ultron, a confused being trying to find his own justification for world order and peace.

The main difference was that Chris never intended to hurt anyone.

Even when HYDRA approached him during his high school graduation, he intended on milking the organization for information and feeding it back to the Avengers.

Paris changed that.

Paris had changed everything.

After Chris had blown the car up it was revealed a small child was sleeping in the back, waiting for her mother to pick up a gallon of milk.

The Stark's had managed to keep the story under wraps, with only a select few people privy to the truth. Chris was kept away from any Avengers business.

It had been an accident, but in Tony's eyes, Chris was now the weapon, _the creation_, that he feared the most; someone willing to use violence to achieve his own definition of peace.

While that hadn't been who Chris was at the time, it certainly described him now.

Being pushed away from his family and teammates had hurt him, and while they had the same goals, Chris realized that he would have to go about achieving them in a different manner.

Chris was willing to do what needed to be done, no matter who or what got in the way.

He'd worked extensively with HYDRA scientists revamping the manipulation formula for project Blackhawk. While some pieces of the formula were missing, Chris knew it would be a matter of time before they got their hands on it. They'd waited and allowed the asset to be trained by her own father, she studied chemistry under a well-placed HYDRA scientist who'd slowly pulled her away from her family.

They stirred resentment and a detachment from her father.

While the Avengers were focused on their missing friend, Chris studied Dr. Banner's notes extensively. He played dumb until meeting the girl face to face. The illegitimate daughter, in the Avengers' eyes.

Her actions were lethal without her even realizing it. How easily she could have shot him through the jugular, and yet it was his tablet that suffered the damage that day. Her programming was still active. The formula would work, if he could locate the missing pieces.

He suggested to Steve she practice in the archery area her father had helped design. He told Wanda where to find her after he'd given her the files on her origins. He kept everyone led along until the timing was right.

He even left a paper trail of HYDRA documents insisting a Stark had signed off on certain research activities.

Then, he found it. It'd been an accident in all honesty, but Chris knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. He'd stumbled across Dana Barton's winter jacket while he was fetching something for Dr. Banner in the storage area of the medical bay.

When he realized one side was slightly heavier than the other, he knew he'd found his answer.

HYDRA was able to proceed. Chris would be able to find his own world order by any means necessary.

What HYDRA hadn't realized was that Chris had assumed the role of Blackhawk's handler. She'd primarily listen to him, and would not kill him if ordered by any other member of HYDRA.

Chris had claimed it had been an accident in the computer programming, and HYDRA officials were furious until he pointed out his unique position with the Avengers. It was reasoned that he would be the least assuming and even if his double crossing had been discovered, they knew his father wouldn't have the courage to end him.

Chris would be able to tie off a few loose ends with Dana, while the rest of the Avengers chased after his father. They'd get to him eventually, there was no hiding from that, they were some of the world's greatest minds, but while he had time he'd solidify his hold over Dana and recapture the original asset.

Chop of one head, two more grow in its place.

_Hail, HYDRA,_ he thought to himself bitterly while he waited outside of the location he'd given Dana. He was positive she would turn up, no matter where she was hiding out. It was in her nature. Even if a day had passed, she would show up.

Sure enough, she appeared out of the shadows, a bow slung over her shoulder. She hadn't been followed. She'd taken care to follow each instruction he'd given her.

Blackhawk was here for her mission.

(-)

A/N: It has been so long and I'm so sorry! I was focusing a lot on school and got distracted. Let me know what you think. Hopefully there should be more up soon. I'm currently working on the next chapter now!


	15. Chapter 15

_ Now I don't understand it. You don't mess with love; you mess with the truth._

_(-)_

After dinner the next evening Dana had quickly excused herself complaining of a migraine and disappeared into her bedroom. She often would become dizzy after intense conversation or would vomit after waking up throughout the night. Her memories were getting worse, but now this was the norm.

So, Bucky hadn't thought anything of it and continued his discussion with Scott about the tracker. They'd been staying with the former Avenger for a few weeks so far, and he hadn't come up with a reasonable way to remove any HYDRA technology from Dana.

"I'm just saying we might trigger something, I don't know," Scott admitted. "Hope? Anything you want to pitch in?" The trio had been discussing options for days. They'd managed to block any signal from escaping the house, but whatever was inside of her was still activated.

"Everything that's been done to her is genetic, worse case scenario it's nano-technology," she reasoned and shot a look between the two men. Bucky grunted in annoyance. This wasn't what he'd anticipated. He'd hoped it would have been like his arm after he'd broken free from HYDRA's control. A simple device that was cut out by Tony Stark in an afternoon.

"So it's safe to say no one has any idea what to?" James wanted clarification from the duo. The both nodded solemnly.

"It'd be helpful if we had more technology to work with…" Hope muttered. James shook his head, quickly shutting down the comment. They wanted to go to the Pym laboratory. James had already denied them twice in the time they'd spent at the house.

"No, we'd risk putting civilians in danger. I don't know when she flips and I don't want to test triggers until I'm positive a HYDRA helicopter won't come sweeping in."

"Fair enough big guy," Scott leaned back in his chair at the table and thought it over. He suddenly leaned forward and shot a look to Hope.

"What?" she arched a brow.

"One of us shrinks down," he suggested. "Our handheld stuff won't work because the device might be too small but…"

Hope nodded, a grin spreading across her features.

"But if we're small, the device might be large enough to detect," she looked to Bucky. "And if one of us says we have to go shopping or something she won't even know we're there. We can transmit the information on its location and the other person can remove it."

"We could do it right now if we wanted," Scott offered but Bucky shook his head.

"No, she's not feeling well. I'd rather she gets some rest before we begin poking and prodding her," his tone was final and Scott murmured in agreement. There was no telling where her tolerance would snap, and send her into an icy assassin.

A silence fell amongst the group before Hope finally spoke up. She placed a gentle hand on Bucky's shoulder and frowned.

"Do you know what you're going to do if we lose her?" she quietly asked. Based off of her and Scott's expressions, the pair had been weighing the question for some time.

"I know what I have to do," he admitted. It took aggressive methods to get him to remember everything that had been wiped from him. But the memories were there. He had just needed the key to unlock them. Dr. Banner had even explained that there was no way to completely erase who you were.

No one deserved to go through what he had gone through, and yet Dana was born to that fate. How much of her life had been manipulated through HYDRA? What were they pumping through her neurons?

"You don't want to, do you?" Scott finally broke James' train of thought.

James didn't reply. Of course he didn't want to put the young woman through it. Over the course of the last few weeks he'd found a kindred spirit inside of Dana Barton.

She'd follow him around silently, occasionally commenting about her self. She couldn't remember her hometown, or her last name. She'd lost her memories of high school and childhood friends. Yet she was able to name some of the most lethal venoms and poisons known to man. Her understanding of martial arts improved and she instantly reacted violently if startled.

It was like watching his progress in reverse and he'd made the mistake of forming an emotional attachment.

"I don't," he finally replied.

(-)

Dana returned to Chris' side with a clutch of blood covered arrows.

"How many casualties?" he questioned and held his hand out. She slipped him a computer disk and paused in thought.

"Twelve," she replied coolly. Chris nodded, pocketing the disk and turning his attention to his computer. They were one step closer to stopping whatever backup plan the Avengers had for project Blackhawk. One by one, Chris was ordering Dana to destroy SHIELD labs and take any information she could get her hands on.

As it turned out, she was incredibly efficient at this task.

"Well, you're dismissed," he muttered with a wave of his hand. "You know your next mission."

She didn't say a word as she disappeared into the night. Chris was managing to slip her more and more of the memory suppressing drug until she would know nothing but absolute loyalty to him. He was fairly confident within the next few days he'd be able to convince the woman to kill the Winter Soldier if he wanted.

But unfortunately, HYDRA was getting greedy. They wanted both of the assets if they had an opportunity and Chris had to play along until the time was right.

Until then, he'd keep Blackhawk under his control, and maybe even get the Winter Soldier in the long run. He'd be unstoppable. HYDRA, SHIELD and the Avengers would fear him.

He could topple governments with a snap of his fingers and he couldn't wait.

(-)

Later that evening things had settled down in the Lang household. Hope had gone to bed early and Scott was relaxing in front of the television.

"Hey Bucky," Scott called to the assassin from the living room. James was fixing a panel in his arm when he was summoned. He entered the room to the theme of New York Evening News, and paused when he noted the top story.

Scientists murdered at government facility.

"Experts are saying the markings are inconsistent with gun shots or knives," the reporter had his hand on an earpiece. "There was no sign of forced entry and as of right now, nothing was noted missing. Among the deceased were Taylor Jackson, a single mother of three, and noted chemist Ashley Clemmens."

James hadn't even realized Dana had joined them until he heard glass shatter on the floor. He whirled around and made eye contact with the girl. Her grey eyes were empty, but her hands shook.

"Dana?" James tensed and held up a hand to prevent Scott from commenting. She stood frozen in the doorway until murmuring something about being sick and hurrying away.

"Gun shots or knives…" James looked to Scott. "It wasn't gun shots or knives…"

"I know," Scott agreed. "The reporter said that, believe it or not."

"Because it was _arrows_," James was halfway out of the room as he made the realization of what had happened. "Dana!"

He was outside of her bedroom door in an instant, and he rattled the handle but the door wouldn't budge.

"Open the door," he demanded, but instead heard the sounds of furniture being shifted around the room.

"What's going on?" Hope wandered sleepily into the hallway, clutching a robe around her frame. Scott, who'd only been a few steps behind James shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure she killed someone?" Scott whispered under his breath. "James please don't damage the- all right, it's just hundred-year-old oak…" James had used his mechanical arm to punch through the door to pull it open.

An arrow flew past his shoulder and stuck into the hallway.

"I'm not going to miss next time! Go away!" Dana shouted as he ripped his way through the furniture she'd used to block the doorway.

"We both know you would have hit me if you wanted to," James snapped.

"I feel like we shouldn't be watching this," Hope murmured to Scott. He shrugged.

"I mean, what if he tries to kill her?" he questioned. "He's already killed our resale value on the house."

"He'd have literally every Avenger, including us, on him if he did something that stupid," Hope reminded him.

"Barton! I swear to god," James shoved the dresser blocking his access to Dana out of his way.

"My name isn't Barton," she hissed and fired another arrow in his direction.

"Then what's your name?" he dodged the arrow and found himself a few feet in front of her. Her hands lowered the weapon. She shook her head.

"I killed them all," she looked at her hands and dropped her bow on the ground like it burnt her hand. "I killed them. They begged for mercy… She had children."

"I'm thinking we should go somewhere else," Hope nudged Scott in the shoulder. He stood, unmoving, in the hallway.

"But…"

"We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure," she insisted before pulling him away from the scene.

"You didn't kill them," James edged closer to Dana, his hands up as a gesture of peace. "HYDRA killed them."

"Then why was I so satisfied to see my arrow go through their necks?" Dana whispered, her grey gaze fixed on James' features. "I'm the monster they wanted me to be."

"That wasn't you," he gently reminded her, stepping a little closer with each word. The woman in front of him was broken, confused, and being manipulated from every angle of her life. "That's what they want you to be. You have to keep fighting it."

"_I can't_," her focus wavered and James realized how exhausted she looked.

"You're Dana Barton, from Fort Yukon, Alaska," he grabbed her shaking hand and folded his natural hand over it. She stilled and started to sink toward the ground slowly. "You know this. You know who you are."

James helped her sit on the wooden floor and let her digest the information. How many times had Steve called him 'Bucky' before he'd remembered his past life?

"He's coming after you," she stated after a silence had filled the room. "They all are."

"What do you mean?"

"_HYDRA_," she closed her eyes. "They know you're with me. We can't keep hiding. They know where we are."

"Dana who's been giving you your orders?" James stared intently at the girl and she frowned.

"I can't- I don't know-" she stumbled over words. "It's there but…"

"Dana, just _think_," he pressed. "Is it anyone you know? I just need a name."

"He wants me to hurt you," she whispered, she held her head, her hands were shaking again. "I can't, James, I can't. But you're my _friend_. Not my mission."

Bucky blinked back a memory, the words hitting him like a dagger in the heart. He hesitated a moment before pulling her into a comforting embrace. It was awkward, but it had done the trick. Dana was significantly calmer.

"We're going to figure this out. Just please," he pulled away and looked her in the eyes, icy blue meeting cool grey. "Keep fighting."

When Scott and Hope found the pair the next morning, Dana had fallen asleep in James' lap. The latter had propped himself up against the bedroom wall, a protective arm over her shoulders.

(-)

"Stark!" No one was able to contain Clint's fury as he smashed his way into the lab. After Wanda had shown him the tablet containing his authorization, he knew he needed to get answers.

"Birdman, good morning, how are-?" Tony's greeting was meant with a firm punch to the face.

"How dare you?!" Clint hissed as Bruce held him back. The archer struggled against his grip, but continued shouting at Tony. "After everything we've all been through!"

"Clint!" Wanda was a few footsteps behind the archer and pulled Bruce's grip off of him.

"You have to be more specific Legalos," Tony held his jaw and adjusted himself.

"You know damn well what I mean," Clint took a threatening step toward Tony, only to be held back by Wanda's hand. "You authorized the attack on the farmhouse."

"I'm sorry?"

"Your name is all over HYDRA documents," Wanda clarified, her gaze narrowing at her teammate.

"I'm pretty sure I would know if I signed off on our enemy's forms," Tony shook his head.

"Which is exactly what you would say if you were feeding them secrets. What was it Tony? Do they appreciate you more? Was it money? How many weapons have you created for them?"

"I don't like your tone," Tony snapped and held his hand up. A piece of Iron Man armor flew across the lab and connected to his wrist. "Would you like to take this outside?"

"We're not going anywhere until we have answers Tony," Steve had joined the group and stood by Wanda and Clint, his arms folded across his chest.

"I've given you my answer, I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

"I think that's a pretty clear answer," Bruce agreed, his hands on his sides. The tension in the room grew as Steve pulled out the evidence and showed it to Tony. The genius scrolled through the information and shook his head.

"Then why is your signature on here?" Steve questioned.

"I didn't sign that!"

"Every test Maria has run says otherwise," Steve insisted sternly. They needed to get to the bottom of this, sooner or later someone would break.

"So everyone is out to get me? Is that it? I'm sure Fury pointed you in my direction. One eyed bastard never liked me."

"We just want answers!" Clint kicked over a trashcan after being blocked by Steve to charge at Tony again.

"You guys have got to be kidding me," Bruce took the tablet from Steve and studied the paperwork carefully. "Tony? Of all people?"

"He did create Ultron," Wanda quietly reminded the group. "Maybe good intentions were misconstrued… _again_."

"I definitely would have told you guys that I was planning on sending a HYDRA team to kill you. I didn't even know you guys were in Iowa until Chris called me."

"Stop _lying_," Clint snarled. "You're the mole and you're digging yourself a deeper hole by not admitting it."

"I am not the mole," Tony raised his hand toward the three Avengers. "And I suggest you get out of this lab before you make any more choices you'll regret."

"Tony, calm down," Bruce pushed Tony's hand down and stood between the sides of the group. "Why don't we go at this rationally?"

"What's going on?" Natasha had heard the commotion and stepped into the lab.

"You're just in time to see Tony turn himself in," Clint stated bitterly.

"Clint, stop," Steve warned his companion. "If Tony has an explanation we owe it to him to listen."

"Now you're being reasonable spangles?" Tony spat.

"Don't test me Stark," Steve's voice dropped dangerously.

"How do you know Tony is the mole?" Natasha leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms. If Steve didn't know any better, he could almost see amusement creep across her features.

"We intercepted some information," he explained. "His signature is all over it, authorizing the Iowa attack."

"And Dana's attack as well," Clint added intensely throwing a pointed finger in Tony's direction. Natasha's body language immediately shifted.

"Attack? You said she was kidnapped," Natasha turned to Clint who froze. Her gaze was like a dagger.

"Oh, who's lying now?" Tony mocked. "So where is the kid?"

"I'm sure you already know since HYDRA has been tracking her moves since that day," Clint snapped.

"Clint, you know where Dana is, don't you?" Natasha had pushed the archer into a corner. "You lied to all of us."

"She's with Bucky," Steve finally explained. "She's been compromised and we figured that would be the safest option."

"_That's_ the safest option? He's a serial killer!" Tony threw his hands up in exasperation.

"He's my _friend_," Steve shot back. "I trust him with my life and Clint agreed with me."

"So Blackhawk was activated?" Natasha was trying to get her facts straight.

"What the hell is Blackhawk?" Bruce interrupted Natasha.

"I'm sure Tony can tell you," Wanda snapped, her eyes glowing. She was scanning everyone in the room as emotions rose. She was confident she'd catch a reading of anger or bitterness that matched the pain she'd felt that day.

"I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about. I'm not the mole!"

"He's right," Wanda was frozen, her words came slow and calculated. "The mole isn't in this room."

"How do you know?" Clint questioned the telepathic avenger.

"Because he's on his way up the elevator with about thirty HYDRA officers," she stated.

(-)

A/N: This was a long one! Hope you all enjoy and PLEASE let me know what you think. I'm toying with a few ideas and I want to see what you all think. Thank you!


	16. Chapter 16

_Like how a single word, can make a heart open. I might only have one match but I can make an explosion._

(-)

James Barnes woke up on the floor of Dana's bedroom, _alone_. Well, that was aside from a frantic Scott who'd shook the former assassin awake.

"Dana took Hope," Scott knelt at James' side. "I shouldn't have listened to you."

"What happened? How do you know?"

"There was a struggle," Scott explained shaking his head. "The kitchen… Bucky. If anything happens to her…"

"I'll take care of it," James replied with a frown.

"You're not going alone. We're calling the others; we're getting the band back together." James had no intention of dragging any of the other Avengers into this. He didn't know who was out to get Dana, and who he could trust.

Bucky didn't have a chance to respond before his phone began to chime. Mentally he groaned. Probably more bad news. He wasn't in the mood for any further set back regarding Dana or HYDRA. Especially after all of the energy it had taken to calm her down the night before.

"Barnes," was his simple greeting. He hadn't bothered to check the caller ID, but Steve's familiar voice filled his ear.

"Where's Dana?" he shouted. There were sounds of crashing and gunshots in the background.

"She's MIA," James reported. "She might have taken Hope."

"She _took_ Hope," Scott corrected loudly, sighing and beginning to pace around the room. His pacing was beginning to agitate James.

There was more noise before Steve spoke again.

_"Chris Stark is HYDRA. We don't have much time."_

An explosion sounded and The line went dead. The former heroes stared at one another in stunned silence.

"That bastard," Scott commented off hand. "I guarantee Tony dropped him once or twice when Pepper wasn't looking."

"Let's focus on the task at hand," James pulled his emotions inward and returned his attention to locating Dana. "How do you know Dana took Hope?"

"The Wasp suit is missing," Scott explained. He turned toward the bedroom door and gestured for James to follow after him. "She only takes it out if she anticipates a fight. I was gone for an hour; the house is in shambles…"

They walked down the staircase leading to the main level of the house. Scott hadn't exaggerated. Tables were overturned, arrows were stuck in the walls, paintings had fallen onto the ground. It had been a battle zone.

"She told me they were after me," James didn't understand. She had ample opportunity to attack him and take him back to HYDRA, yet he'd been left unharmed in the bedroom. "She drugged me." His hand went to his neck where he felt a small scab. It was no wonder he'd slept soundly through the commotion.

"I don't care what she did, we need to find them," Scott was already beginning to pull his Ant Man suit from a storage area in the wall. "Please tell me someone has a list of HYDRA bases or something."

James knew exactly who had a list of HYDRA bases, and he was at the tower.

They would need the team's help.

"We'll get them both, but we need to get to the tower," he decided. Hope was strong and Dana would fight as hard as she could. Of this James was confident.

(-)

On a list of terrible ideas Hope had decided that this was at the very top.

It was up there with arm wrestling the Hulk or trying to outdrink Tony.

However, when Dana had approached her that morning, Hope didn't know what else to do.

"I'm almost gone," Dana had pleaded. "I took care of James for enough time to create a scene, I need to get out of here before I genuinely hurt you all." Hope could almost sense the missing sentence. _'Before I hurt him.'_

"Dana, _we_ can't do anything," Hope had begun to explain but Dana held up a piece of Pym technology. It was a disc that the duo often used to shrink down opponents or threats.

"We've just been lucky I'm after current Avengers," she explained tossing it to Scott. "Please." Hope had to hand it to the girl, she was incredibly sharp.

"What do you need us to do?" Scott finally asked. Hope was curious as well. There was only so much

Dana would report to HYDRA with Hope in her Wasp suit hidden on her. They would separate and Hope would send Scott a signal of their location. They'd sweep the computers and get anything they could get their hands on. The Avengers would take down HYDRA base by base, with Dana staying ahead to avoid confrontation with the team as long as she could.

She was going to sacrifice her freedom for the destruction of HYDRA.

"But it's vital you leave me behind," Dana instructed sharply. "I don't care what anyone says. I get left behind and you destroy the bases as you go. We need to destroy everything HYDRA stands for."

"But Dana-," Hope began, but the archer wasn't hearing it.

"They're going to hurt innocent people," she sharply replied. "Let them have their time with me. I'm tough, I'll handle it. There's no need to break more people."

"Anything else?" Hope questioned the younger woman. Dana bit her bottom lip and nodded. Hope knew in her soul what was next.

"If the need arises, I'm going to need someone to pull the trigger. Do not hesitate." Dana's eyes were fixed on the two. Both Hope and Scott digested the words.

It broke Hope's heart hearing the 22-year-old say it. The unspoken promise that now lingered in the air between the heroes.

"Ok," Hope finally managed to choke out.

_ "Then let's get to work."_

Dana had reported to the last location that her handler had given her.

Hope was waiting on her shoulder, watching the girl for any shift in emotion or focus. Occasionally, Dana would grip her bow a little tighter than usual.

"What's on your mind?" Hope whispered to the redhead. Dana shook her head.

"Honestly, I've forgotten why we're here," she replied quietly, her tone sounded frustrated with a mix of childlike fear. "I just know I was supposed to report here."

"What do you remember?" Hope asked, genuinely curious of the woman's mental state. She'd fought so hard, but it was clear which side was winning.

"I remember _his_ eyes," Dana murmured. She closed her eyes a moment and paused.

Hope didn't know who she was talking about, but she couldn't press further, as a masked man approached Dana.

"Stark is occupied. You've been ordered to come with us for your next assignment," he explained quietly.

Hope could feel Dana's body language shift instantly. Dana Barton was gone and when the woman opened her eyes again, the once bright grey color that had shone there, faded away.

Hope's second thought was whether or not Dana remembered that the winged hero was still on her person.

"What's the mission status on the original asset?" the man questioned while leading Dana toward a black SUV.

"He's disappeared," she reported quietly. Hope tucked herself under Dana's sleeve and activated the tracker that Scott had given her. Even if something were to happen, they'd have something to work with.

"Bring him in within 48 hours," the man ordered, ushering her into the back seat of the car. The man slid in next to Dana and began fumbling with a needle. "Hold still."

Dana obliged, tensing as the needle pierced the skin by her neck. She let out a cry of pain and began to shake.

Hope couldn't watch. The entire ordeal had last a few seconds, but it was difficult to handle. By the end, Dana was slumped over in the backseat, unconscious.

"Stark moved a number of agents into Avenger's Tower about twenty minutes ago," the man reported to someone in the front seat of the SUV.

"And the location of the other asset?" a familiar voice questioned. Hope couldn't quite place where she'd heard it before.

"Missing in action, at the moment," the man added. "However, Blackhawk has her orders. She won't fail us, she knows nothing but loyalty to HYDRA at this point."

"Hail HYDRA," the man in the front of the vehicle turned around and Hope could see his face better in the light.

_Crossbones_.

He was alive. Despite everything Clint had done twenty years previously, the man who'd slaughtered his family and destroyed so much, lived.

(-)

A/N: short and sweet, hope you all enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think!


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note**: I swear to goodness, this chapter has been sitting on my desktop and judging me for over a month now. It's like, I know where I want this to go but every time I try to type it up it comes up as "wrqiuywhqkjwehkjsdhasdasd". I apologize ahead of time if this chapter is utter trash. I promise it WILL get better.

_(-)_

_I must have called a thousand times to say I'm sorry for what I've done._

(-)

It wasn't easy for Tony to register that his own son was now charging at him, fully suited and covered in numerous weapons.

He did manage to signal for his own Iron Man suit, despite the chaos.

It seemed like everything had happened in slow motion. The elevator doors had opened, HYDRA agents swarmed the room, Clint and Nat jumped toward the nearest handheld weapons, and Bruce shifted into his green friend.

Steve kicked over a table and those without bullet proof body armor dove behind it.

Wanda lifted three HYDRA agents at once and swung them toward Vision, who'd now joined in on the party. He knocked them out with ease and focused his attention to another group that had converged on them.

But Chris. His son. He was leading the charge against the heroes.

_Christopher Howard Stark._

Tony had processed the information as his suit closed around him and Chris tackled him through a wall.

It had to be a mistake. HYDRA must have taken over Chris' suit. Tony's thoughts spun at the idea of his son betraying the team.

"Surprised?" Chris' voice came through the mask in his suit and Tony hesitated long enough for Chris to send him crashing into the floor.

Surprised would be an understatement in Tony's opinion. Astonished. Hurt. Sad?

There was definitely sadness there, even if Tony refused to recognize it during the fight.

"Chris, whatever trouble you've gotten yourself into-," Tony began before slinging a table toward Chris to counteract a barrage of bullets.

"I haven't gotten myself into anything," Chris replied causally. He pointed his wrist at the ceiling, firing a blast toward a support beam. It came crashing down on top of Tony, leaving the elder Stark barely enough time to escape. When Tony slipped past the dust, Chris released a missile at his father

His son was trying to kill him.

"Clint!" Natasha tossed her partner his bow and upon catching it, fired off four shots at swarming HYDRA agents. Natasha cover his sides, shooting any agent that attempted to sneak up on them.

Meanwhile, Bruce had allowed "the other guy" to take control and the Hulk was smashing through numerous agents, even tossing one toward Chris as he took another shot at his father.

Chris was knocked off balance long enough for Steve to throw his shield at one of Chris' boosters. He knocked the engine out and Chris flew downward into the ground.

Chris sent a glance around the room and noted his reinforcements had been taken out. Left with few options he lowered his mask on his suit and held his hands up in surrender.

"Good move," Steve commented as Tony began deactivating Chris' suit. It slipped off and crashed to the ground, leaving a tshirt and jean clad young adult in the middle of the room. He shrugged off a smirk toward Clint and Natasha before Steve forcibly shoved him toward the elevator

"Lock him on the third floor, no one in, no one out," Tony ordered. "Someone contact Fury as well. Tell him we have some presents for him."

Tony's head ached from all of the information that had just struck him. He always knew Chris was especially skilled at lying, but he never belived that Chris would take it to this level.

His son, the Avenger, was a member of HYDRA. He was feeding the enemy secrets and betraying those he supposedly once cared for.

All of the voices around Tony were a humming in his ear. He couldn't focus, his hands shook and before he knew what was happening, Steve pulled him out of the room.

"Thanks buddy," he murmured struggling to manually pull off his armor. "I don't know what I'm going to tell Pep."

"You could start with the truth," Steve suggested quietly. Tony gave a halfhearted shrug and tossed his gauntlet on the hallway floor.

"I would," he started while he tugged off a shoulder panel. "But I'm not even entirely sure what's going on anymore."

It was with his suit half removed that Tony left wordlessly for his workshop, leaving Steve standing alone in the partially ruined hallway.

He needed to destroy something before he lost his mind.

(-)

Scott Lang was thankful for three things in his life:

That Cassie was _not_ a homicidal HYDRA agent.

That Hope was not actually kidnapped by Dana.

And that Bucky had finally shut up about potential HYDRA infiltration techniques.

Well, he'd stopped talking about it to _him_ at least.

"Do you have any idea where Dana might be located?" Steve questioned James. After SHIELD had cleaned out the Tower of HYDRA agents, the team had relocated to a conference room a few floors above the now destroyed lab. When Bucky and Scott arrived, the entire team was filled in on the situation, barring Tony who'd locked himself away from all human contact.

"She disappeared this morning, that's all I know," James looked at Scott for further information. "Did she say anything to you?" It was the fourth time James had asked the question. Scott felt his stomach do a small flip once he was caught in the former assassins' stare.

Ah. The guilt. There it was. But, Scott promised Hope he would wait until she sent him a tracking signal before revealing any portion of their plan. If they sent the team prematurely, it would only lead to disaster and HYDRA would have the upper hand. All he knew was that she'd activated her tracker, but was still on the move. He had no idea when they would have a secure lead.

"Nothing. She knocked me out and took Hope, I have no idea," he lied. While the others turned their attention back to Steve, Scott noticed that Natasha and Clint had kept their gaze locked on him. A shiver shot through his core.

_If looks could kill_. He thought nervously, shifting his eyes over to Falcon who now spoke.

"Is anyone going to talk about how easily we swamped that HYDRA team? Because that seems pretty shady."

"I agree," Steve crossed his arms in thought. "It's like Loki all over again, and I don't like being played."

"Do any of us?" Bruce commented dryly. The guy had a point, in Scott's opinion. Any time someone tried to manipulate the team he usually got the short end of the stick.

There was a pause in conversation before a communication device at Scott's side began beeping loudly. Scott tried to play it off and shut the device down before attention was drawn to himself.

"You need to get that?" Clint asked. Natasha raised her eyebrows, clearly intrigued by what would happen next.

"I uh, yeah," Scott fumbled the device off and read through the code that shot across his screen. Hope got as much HYDRA information she could and was asking for extraction, she hadn't been caught, thank goodness. His expression must have given him away as Steve took the opportunity and stepped closer.

"Would you care to share with the class?" he asked while all eyes in the room settled on Ant Man.

"So, about Hope being kidnapped," Scott began, avoiding eye contact with the corner of the room consisting of James, Clint and Natasha.

About halfway through the story, Clint shook his head and left the meeting. Scott knew the information had to hurt, especially knowing that Dana was cognizant this morning and was probably planning all of their deaths as they spoke.

James and Natasha were completely impossible to read when he sent a glance their direction. Especially when Scott mentioned Dana's specific instructions to keep Bucky away from HYDRA at all costs.

Finally, Steve noted he needed some time to think about everything and that the team would reconvene in a few hours. They would need everyone in top-shape both mentally and physically while they figured out what to do with Chris and how they would extract Dana.

Scott sent a message to Hope that she would have to wait a bit until a plan was laid out. She was only to send an alert if an emergency arose.

(-)

Natasha found Clint in his bedroom after he'd disappeared from the meeting. He was slowly picking through a shoebox of photos, looking at each one carefully before setting it on his bed. She silently sat down next to him and watched him with curiosity before he spoke.

"Steve, he uh, offered to grab some things from the cabin in Alaska," he explained, pausing on a photo of a toddler that had fallen asleep on top of a much younger Clint's chest. His voice cracked slightly as he spoke. "This was all I wanted."

"Are they just baby pictures?" Natasha asked, leaning forward. _Their daughter_, she reminded herself. Dana Barton had a _life_ and a _childhood_ that wasn't spent in a circus or the Red Room. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Oh no," he held up a photo of a more grown up Dana, grinning in a prom dress next to a boy who needed a haircut. "It's _all_ here. From her preschool ballet recital to her high school graduation." He handed off a picture of Dana in her blue cap and gown to Natasha and sorted through a pile he'd set at his side.

Sadly, he paused at a picture of Dana posing with a deer she'd shot down. It had been the first one of the winter season, before she was to leave for college. He'd insisted on the photo, saying that there wouldn't be time for memories once she went to school. This was before she revealed where she applied to school, before she resented him.

"When was this taken?" Natasha grabbed another photo of Dana, her hair in bright red pigtails, holding up a pair of Barbie's and grinning a toothless grin. In the picture, Clint was sitting behind her, attempting to set up a complicated looking doll house.

"Oh god, Christmas…?" he recalled. "Our neighbors came over and all of the kids opened their presents together. I think she was seven that year."

Natasha nodded in acknowledgment. She'd missed so much. All of her time in HYDRA was spent protecting this child that she knew nothing about. This child, who was half of her, didn't know anything about Natasha's old neighborhood in Russia or the family she'd found in the Avengers and SHIELD.

"What's her favorite food?" Natasha asked after picking up a few baby pictures and flipping through them slowly. Dana had Clint's eyes, but Natasha's face. Her hair, but Clint's ears.

"Depends," Clint replied softly. "If it's cold out, she loves mac and cheese. If it's hot out, pineapple."

Natasha chuckled drily at the response. She'd been allergic to pineapple for as long as she could remember.

"Of course it's pineapple…" she muttered.

"I _know_," he chuckled. "I always laughed when she asked for it."

"Her favorite color?"

"Let's see," he dug through the pile and set a picture of a four-year-old Dana on Natasha's lap. The littler girl was covered in head to toe in pink clothing, from a bright pink hat and feather boa to glittery pink shoes. "Pink until she was about ten. Then purple, and I think currently it's blue. Though she did go through the whole 'everything needs to be black' phase around sixteen."

The pair shared a good laugh at the adolescent stubbornness. When they settled back down, Natasha leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

"I'm sorry," she stated, her eyes fixed forward. "I should have been there. I should have told you."

Clint shuffled next to her, setting a handful of pictures back into the shoebox. He set an arm around her shoulders and pulled her under his arm.

"You did what you needed to do," he murmured.

"I wanted to give you both the best shot at normal," she sighed.

"And you did," he reassured her. "Nat, do you think if she knew the truth she would have suffered through braces in middle school? Sure the whole sex ed talk would have gone a lot easier with you around, but you were always there in spirit. You were always watching out for us. The life you gave her is proof enough that you loved her."

"I loved you both, you know that," Natasha looked up at Clint and brought her lips to a thin line. "I killed me knowing how much you suffered after Laura and the kids died. That's why I went after HYDRA. When I found Dana I thought… maybe you had a chance at happiness at least."

It was admittedly difficult for Natasha to read Clint whenever Laura came up, but after he tensed for a moment, his body language softened and he planted a soft kiss on her forehead. She blinked in confusion at the gesture.

"Maybe we all deserve a shot at happiness this time around," he said, a weary smile fixed on his features. "We'll figure this out. I'll- no- _we'll_ get her back."

That's when it occurred to Natasha. The time Clint had with Dana nearly doubled the amount of time he had with Laura, even less so with the children. No wonder it had hurt him so badly when news of her condition had gotten worse.

"We will, you have my word," she promised with a short nod.

(-)

"Ok, so you're not allowed to be mad at me forever," Scott stood to the side as Bucky hit a punching bag across the training room. "You would've done the exact same thing in my situation."

Bucky grunted and grabbed another bag off of the floor. Scott was right, he would have done the same thing. He would have done the same as all of the parties involved, from convincing Scott and Hope to lie for him to lying to him for the sake of taking down HYDRA.

That didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

"Yes, Hope is hiding out in a HYDRA base with no extraction plan, but it's really not as bad as you think."

"Oh no..?" Bucky paused. "Because if Dana remembers Hope is there and reports it back to her handler, Hope is done for."

"She's under orders to transmit information if anything bad happens. She'll send a signal, we'll get to her before that happens," Scott shook his head. "We thought it out."

"Unless Dana gets to her first. She won't hold back, she won't know mercy," Bucky swung his leg at the bag. "She's a machine, used solely to kill. Her cells know nothing but death." He moved his elbow and hit the punching bag hard enough it flew at the feet of Steve, who had entered the training room.

"That's a bit dramatic, wouldn't you say Buck?" Steve lifted the punching bag off of the ground and tossed it to the side.

"It's true," he countered. He pulled a glove off of his natural hand and flexed it. "I nearly killed _you_."

"But you didn't, and with out being constantly wiped, you bounced back quickly," Steve reminded him.

"I also wasn't _bred_ for that specific purpose," Bucky shot back. As much as he wanted to hold onto hope that Dana would be back to normal after they got her away from HYDRA, it wouldn't be that easy. He saw the CT scans of his brain after he'd gotten away. The damage doesn't go away over night.

It took him decades to get away from their pull, whether the others realized it or not. Dana had HYDRA in her genes. They didn't even need to violently wipe her as they had with him. Just a syringe and her brain chemistry did the rest. As easy as Chris Stark snapping his fingers.

It made him sick.

The team was lucky he and Scott showed up _after_ the fight with HYDRA, or he would have been decisively more violent with Chris.

"Anyway, speaking of HYDRA," Steve attempted to change the conversation sensing that Bucky was growing tense at the thoughts of Dana attacking the team and him being unable to help. "I was about to start questioning Chris if you wanted to come along. Though I don't think it would be wise for you to be in the room."

Steve had that right, Bucky thought to himself while he pulled a tee shirt over his head. James was fairly certain if left along with the kid, Chris would be dead within the hour.

_An hour is too kind, maybe longer…_ a small voice commented from the back of his mind.

"I'll go," he replied and gestured for Scott to tag along. James wanted to know the minute Hope was to be extracted, or if HYDRA was going to make a move. And as much as Scott irritated him that afternoon, he would have to come with them.

The trio gathered in the elevator and Steve began rambling to Scott about perimeters regarding the coordinates Hope had sent him. The base was an older hideout that was formed by Grant Ward during HYDRA's original downfall a few decades back.

Bucky's mind, however, was focused on Dana's warning to Scott and Hope. HYDRA wanted him back; they wanted the Winter Soldier. It was strange how he spent the better part of the last decade focusing his energy on project Blackhawk when in reality the organization needed _both_ assets. Dana had tried to her best to protect him by instructing the team to keep him away from any major HYDRA battles, but he knew better.

He made a promise to her and her father that he would protect her and reunite the pair. Even with her in HYDRA's grasp, that didn't mean he would give up.

They arrived at the holding level and James felt the same surge of sickness he had earlier when he laid eyes on Chris Stark.

The young man was sitting calmly, crossed legged, in the middle of the room. The entrance of the holding area was made of glass, so Chris could see the group as they walked in.

"You brought, the Winter Soldier, how lovely," he mused with a smile. "Brock will be happy to hear you're still in one piece. I thought for sure Blackhawk would have killed you by now."

Steve set a hand on Bucky's chest to calm him before walking into the cell.

"So Rumlow is back?" he began, his hands on his belt as he tried to intimidate the younger man as much as he could.

"He's the big cheese, actually," Chris replied with a yawn. "Came back, killed some agents, recruited new ones and bam."

"Was it on his orders that you attacked us?"

Bucky was watching Chris carefully. The young man's body language didn't seem concerned at all that Captain America was furious with him. In fact, he seemed bored with the questions, despite giving them whatever answer they needed.

"Mhm," he replied. "Why don't you ask me real questions? Like how are you going to get dear Dana back?"

"Well, how are we?" Steve stared the young Stark down. Bucky noted how surreal it was that within two generations the Stark name went from hero to villain.

"You can't," he grinned. "Her brain is about as scrambled as Mr. Barnes over here. Actually, probably more so. She _really_ fought the wipe, or so I heard. We nearly lost two agents in her rampage. But don't worry, she's alive at least, _I think_."

James' felt his fist tighten as he listened to the boy talk. He pictured Dana, with her questioning grey eyes being held down in the machine. Her mind being wiped and manipulated. Maybe it was the fate of a Romanoff/Barton child that they continue the family legacy of mental torture.

Steve's body language shifted immediately and he lifted Chris off of the ground by the collar and shoved him into the wall.

"Care to tell us where she is?"

"Do you have the time?" Chris asked quietly.

"Excuse me?"

James didn't hear what Chris said next as Scott's comm device went off and the door behind them slid open.

A red head in tactical gear stood in the doorway, a combat bow in hand.

"Dana?" the words came out of James before he could register what happened next. Two arrows shot him down and he hit the ground, struggling to pull them out of his arm and shoulder.

There were shouts from Scott as he shrank down and before Bucky knew it, the world was growing dark.

Something was wrong. His mind screamed at him. He'd fought Hawkeye, was shot through the chest and still hadn't lost consciousness.

_Venom on the arrow… _

(-)

Author's Note: LONG LONG LONG. Please review and let me know what you think! I'm incredibly sorry it took so long.


End file.
